Prove It
by xxAlysha
Summary: "As soon as he consumes that last soul, your soul will become mine... Do we have a deal, little meister?"
1. I Scream For You At Night

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

**I Scream For You At Night,  
****And You Agree To This?**

* * *

"_Make it stop!"_

_His screams ripped through her sleep, waking her instantly. Her eyes shot open as she stared into the darkness of the room. At first, when there was no after scream, she thought that it was all part of her dream. Just something her mind came up with to trick her, a dirty trick at that._

"_Maka! Oh god!"_

_The moment that his voice rang through the apartment once again, Maka's feet here on the ground, rushing towards his room. Many thoughts were running through her mind, but they were the same thoughts that always went through her mind when this happened. _

_And this is a daily thing._

"_Soul." As soon as she pushed open his door, she fell to her knees beside his bed. She wanted to grab a hold of him, but his body would not stay still for a moment. He thrashed against the bed, almost like he was trying to get away from it. "Soul, calm down."_

_Her voice went through him, not having an effect at all._

"_Stop the pain!" Another one of his screams ripped through the air, causing Maka's body to jerk into action. Her pushed herself up from the ground, throwing her body over her weapon's, causing him to stay flat against the bed. "Maka!"_

"_Shh." She muttered quietly to him, trying to get him to calm down enough to wake up. "I am right here. You are just dreaming and now it is time to wake up. Open your eyes, Soul."_

_Take his meister's command, Soul's crimson eyes opened up, looking directly down at Maka. His breath was ragged and uneven and sweat was pouring from his hairline. Just by looking at his meister, he was calming down some._

"_Thank you."_

_Maka got off his body, kneeling back on the ground once again. She kept a grip on one of his hands, making sure that he knew that she was still there for him. His hand gripped onto hers after a little while, needing her to be there. The feeling was soon gone from her hand completely, but it did not matter to Maka._

"_The same dream?" Maka muttered a few moments later, giving Soul some time to calm down some. _

"_Yea…"_

"_You're not telling me everything. Tell me the truth, Soul."_

_Soul shifted in his bed, laying on his side with his hand still clutching onto Maka's for support. "It was the same dream, Maka. The dark room appears and I am standing in it alone. Then your voice calls out into the room, almost like you are calling out for my help. So, I start running towards your voice, but it seems like it is coming from everywhere. I did not know where to go and it was confusing. Then, a wooden door pops open when a spotlight hits it._

"_Even though I know that the door is bad, my feet start moving towards it. I do not even try to fight it, which is the weird part of it. As soon as the door opens, it is like I am back in my soul room. The demon is sitting in the chair, waiting for me to come. When he opens his eyes to look at me, your scream comes through the room. My mind starts reeling, but the demon just smiles at me. I move to find you, but I am stopped._

"_The demon comes at me, so I back up as an instinct. When I reach the wall, the demon faces me and has his hands behind his back. Usually, this is where the dream ends and I never get to see what is behind his back, but I did tonight." Soul takes a small pause shuttering at what his dream played for him tonight._

_Maka gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "It's okay if you can't say it right now. We can save it for mor-"_

"_He pulls out a small dagger from behind his back. At first, I laugh at the sight of it. I mean, it is a simple dagger, what damage can be done with it against me?" Soul has a small smile on his face at this point, but it disappears as soon as another thought comes to mind. "Then he mutters something like this is needed to save you. Before I can stop him, the dagger plunges into my chest and he begins to carve a hole into my chest, almost like he is trying to reach my soul…."_

_The worry and pain was visible on Soul's face after he got done telling about his dream. It was almost like he was going through the dream again, but he was unable to wake up this time around. _

_Maka got off of her knees and perched herself on the edge of Soul's bed. She moved her free hand to wipe the hair that was sticking to his forehead away. "It is going to be okay, it is just a dream. I will not let the demon get to you like that anymore." She muttered to him as she laid her hand on his cheek. "That is what partners are for, keeping the evil away from each other."_

Promises are hard to keep. Sometimes you have to pay a price to keep them.

_Soul gave her one of his signature grins. "Thanks, Maka, but I think I am going to be okay for a little bit." He said, releasing the death grip that he had on her hand. The blood rushed back into her fingers suddenly, sending a tingling feeling through her hand. "I will just try to go back to sleep and see if it continues."_

_After much debate in her head, Maka stood up. "If you are sure…" She said to him, keeping her eyes on his face to make sure that he was all right. "I will be in my room if you need me."_

_She made her way to the door after she did not get a response from her partner. Her hand pushed the door open, but she stopped walking to turn her head to look back at Soul. "And Soul…" Her partner's eyes moved back to look at her. "Do not be afraid to call me if you need me. I will always come running to help you."_

_She did not give him a chance to answer her as the door closed off his words. She leaned against his door, letting out the breath that she found herself holding in. Sinking to the ground, Maka let her head drop into her waiting hands._

"_How many times can he go through this? This has been going on for two weeks now and he just brushes it off like it is nothing." Maka muttered to herself as her eyes closed. "I cannot just sit here and see him in pain every day of his life."_

_With determination in her mind, Maka got back to her feet and looked at Soul's closed door. "I will find a way to help you through this. I promise you." She whispered into the empty abyss before heading back into her own room._

The prices that you pay may be worth more than the promise itself.

* * *

"Oi, Maka, get up."

Her eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice. Her mind automatically went into overdrive before she could even have a chance to stop herself. It was like it was programmed into her mind after the many times that it occurred to her. It was an automatic response to this kind of situation.

"What? Are you all right? It's just a dream, remember that!" Maka exclaimed as she sat up and slammed her hands down onto the desk that was just used as her pillow a few seconds ago. As soon as the words left her mouth and she took a look at where they were at, regret automatically filled her body. She bit down on her lower lip, wanting to take the words back. "Oh, I am sorry."

Soul leaned down on his hand to get a closer look at his meister's face. "What is up with you? It is not like you to fall asleep at school. I was going to wake you up, but I figured that something was wrong with you and you needed the sleep." He said to her, poking her cheek a few times to keep her attention. "What's on your mind, bookworm?"

_It is like you push it out of your mind after it happens. Do you realize that that could hurt you more than it already does? Do you realize that you are not helping yourself anymore?_

Maka shook her head as she picked up the books in front of her. "Nothing is wrong. I am just not getting a lot of sleep at night, that is all." She said as she stood up from her seat. "I guess I just need to stop the studying late at night so that I can get the sleep that I need. Lesson learned."

"Oh, save the lies, Maka. I know that something is bothering you, so it is keeping you up at night. Spill it before I force you to tell me. You know that we are supposed to be telling each other everything."

"Just drop it Soul." Maka spat at him as she turned her back to him and started to make her way from the abandoned classroom. She was hoping that he would get the hint that she did not want to talk about it, that he would just let it drop for right now. Unfortunately, that would be too good to be true.

His hand caught her shoulder before the thought even finished going through her head. Her body spun around, without any effort from her, to face Soul and his other hand clasped down on her opposite shoulder to keep her in place. "Cut the bullshit, Maka." He muttered darkly to her without moving his gaze from her eyes. "I am your partner and I want to know what the hell is wrong with you. You have been acting weird all this week and I have been taking your excuses that you are just fine. Now, I am not letting you go until you tell me the truth."

"Are you being serious right now?" Maka said, her voice already starting out louder than usual. "Do you just ignore what happens at night? Do you just clear from your mind when you wake up in the morning? I have to get up at night to keep you from screaming through the night because of the nightmares that keep reoccurring! I have to save you from your own mind!"

Soul's face did not hold an emotion as he took her little rant. The grip on her shoulders loosened a little when the words registered into his mind and finally let go altogether. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he walked past her and headed out of the classroom like Maka was doing before he stopped her. He was finally letting this go.

But Maka was now fuming and was not about to let this go.

"Oh you are not walking from this now." She called after him as she jogged behind him to catch up with his. His pace was a quick one, so she did not catch up to him until they were on the top of the stairs in front of the academy. She grabbed his wrist, as his hands were still in his pockets, and pulled him to a stop. "I am not done talking about this. You started this and now we are finishing it."

Soul's face did not turn to face her yet, his body still slightly angled away from her. He was not ready to face her about the dreams fully, not yet. If he had known that the reason that she was losing sleep was solely because of his nightmares, he would not have brought up the subject until he was ready for it.

"Answer me!"

His face finally shifted over to look at Maka, no emotion running through his eyes. "What do you want me to say, Maka? I really do not want to bring up this subject right now. I would rather we do it some other time, at some other location." He muttered as he tried to pull his wrist from her hand, but Maka held it in a death grip.

"No! You are not running away from this now!" Maka said, keeping her voice at a volume that was loud enough to get her point across, but not enough to draw attention to them. "You wanted to know what was bugging me and I told you the trust, but that makes you run away from that? I want to face this now so that I do not have to keep losing sleep over it."

"If you do not want to lose sleep over it, then do not wake up in the middle of the night!" Soul shot back, matching her volume with ease. "No one told you that you had to coming running to save me every night that it happens. It is just a dream, Maka, it will eventually stop when I wake up."

"I cannot help it when you scream my name!"

Soul's mouth closed automatically when she said that, not expecting that to come from her. "You are lying. I do not scream for you during my nightmares. Why would I call for you when I do not want you to get involved with any of this?"

Maka let go of Soul's wrist after that, her head shaking the entire time. "Fine. If you do not want me to help you through a hard time in your life because I care for you, then I won't." She said she brushed past him, hitting his should with her own as she passed him. "Do not come crying to me when this gets too much for you to han-"

The sound of a body falling to the ground and some groaning came from behind her.

"Soul." She said as she whipped her body around to face him. As she pictured in her mind when the sound came from behind her, Soul's body was laying on the ground. His hands were clutching his hand and soft groans were coming from his mouth. His eyes were closed tightly as if he was in extreme pain. "Soul!"

Her body skidded next to him as she gripped his hands with her own. At first, she tried to get his hands away from his head, wanting to comfort him in some way. When his hands would not move, she wrapped her arms around his cringing body, trying to warm him with her soul wavelength.

But his body would not stop shaking and the groans would not stop coming from his paling lips.

Looking around to see if there was anyone around, Maka's mind was reeling once again. This was happening once again, but it was not a dream this time. Something was actually inflicting real pain on him. She did not know what to do now, she was out of ideas and she needed someone to help her.

There was no one around, though.

"I do not know what to do." Maka muttered to herself as she tightened her grip on her partner's body. The shaking was increasing and he was sweating now. She moved one of her hands to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but as soon as her hand touched his skin, sometime more was added to the equation.

His heart-renching screams filled the air around them now, pulling at her heartstrings. Her body jerked away from him as the screams scared her. It was getting worse with every second that she let pass, but her mind was not coming up with any ideas that could help him.

"I need to save him." She finally muttered, gripping his wrist once again. "He needs her by his side to make sure that he is safe. No matter how much he denies that he needs her to worry about him, she will always make sure that he is as safe as he was before. "I need to be with him."

"Soul resonance."

* * *

She half expected to be his Soul's soul room when she forced a resonance, but that was not the case this time.

This time around, a beaten wooden door stood in front of her. It looked like a door that would be in front of a church, one that was built many years ago. Her hand reached out, touching the cold wood that was there. Where did this door lead? Was the soul room on the other side of it?

To answer her question, an ear-piercing scream came from the other side of the door.

Without giving time to hesitate, Maka pushed through the wooden door, entering the soul room that was familiar to her. As her body entered the room, her clothes changed from her spartoi clothes to the black dress that was required for this room. It did not even bother her anymore, as the scene in front of her was more important than taking time to think about a dress.

The Little Demon was standing in front of Soul, having him pressed up against the wall. The demon had grown from the last time that she saw him; he was towering over Soul at his point. By the look on Soul's face, he was not enjoying the sight of him towering over him.

"You know that that was not part of the plan." The demon was saying to him, his voice filled with a threatening tone. Maka could feel it in the air and she knew that it was affecting Soul too. "You need her to help you through this so that I can get closer to her. I need to take over that pretty little soul of her's. It is the perfect soul to have possession of."

"You want my soul?"

Both the little demon and Soul turned their attention towards the meister when she spoke up, neither of them expecting her to be there. The little demon composed himself before Soul, so he took a few steps towards Maka. A sinister smile was pulling on his lips, his sharp teeth exposed for the world to see. Seeing those, Maka took a small step backwards.

"Ah, so you finally have the sense to come in here yourself. Did you get tired of waiting until he wakes up to make sure that he is okay?" The little demon said to her as he stood in front of her. His body was also towering over her's. "You do realize that I could kill him in here and he will never wake up? You should be a little smarter about this situation if you really want to save him."

"What were you saying about my soul?" Maka said, ignoring what he was saying completely. "You want control over it?"

"Oh, so you heard that part? Good, I do hate repeating myself." The little demon said as he crossed the room to sit on the chair that sat next to the only table in the room. Maka took this opportunity to stand near Soul, who was still frozen from the moment that she came into the room. "You must know by now, at your age, how amazing and powerful your soul is. It is one of a kind, one that most people would fight over."

Maka nodded slightly. "Yes, I am aware of how powerful my soul is." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Now, cut to the chase, what is it you truly want to accomplish here? Why are you torturing Soul?"

"Soul is the connection between the two of us, Maka Albarn. The only way that I can reach you is through your weapon. When he decided to tell you that you did not need to worry about him," He paused to send a threatening look to Soul. From the corner of Maka's eye, she saw him shudder away from him and closer to her. "I needed to tell him how wrong that decision was. But you decided to come in and join us, so I do not need to talk to him anymore."

"So you have been causing Soul physical and emotional pain because you wanted to get to me?"

"Exactly. It is all part of the plan, but since you are here, then we can just skip to the part where I take your soul for my own." The little demon smiled as he got back to his feet. He raised one of his hands out in front of his body, his palm facing towards the meister and weapon pair.

"No!" Soul's voice finally came into play in the conversation as he placed himself in front of Maka. His arms were spread out to his sides as he blocked Maka from the little demon's view. "I already told you that I would not allow you to hurt her and I intend to keep that promise."

When he was done talking, Soul's right arm transformed into a scythe blade before he charged towards the enemy in the room. The blade was lifted above his head; ready to cut through him vertically when he reached him. Of course, the plan backfired on him.

As soon as Soul got close enough to the little demon, one of his red arms shot out. He knocked Soul's body away like it was mere little fly. His body flew across the room and slammed into the wall, leaving the indent of his body in it. When Soul fell to the ground completely, Maka could tell that the impact was hard enough to knock him out completely.

"Stop it!" Maka yelled as she took a few quick steps towards Soul, only to be stopped when the little demon held out his hand towards her once again. "Stop hurting him! It is me that you want, so you do not have to punish him anymore! I will give you anything you want, just name your price!"

The little demon's smile grew when she said that and his hand fell back down to his side. "Well, it seems like this will be easier than I thought it would be." He said, sitting back down in the chair with his legs crossed. "As you already know, I want your soul that I can gain the power that I deserve. However, I am not strong enough to take over your soul, so it will have to wait a little bit."

"When will you be strong enough to take it?"

"The moment that your pathetic weapon consumes the soul of a witch to become a Death Scythe will give me enough power to take your soul." He said to her, closing his eyes a little bit. "If, by the time Soul became a Death Scythe I did not have enough power to get what I wanted, I had the plans to devour the boy from the inside."

"No!" Maka said almost automatically afterwards. "I will do anything if you allow him to continue on after he becomes a Death Scythe. It is his dream to be able to fight beside Lord Death and I do not want to take that away from him."

"Than you must be willing to give your soul over to me."

Maka looked down at her hands, which she just realized were shaking. Many thoughts were running through her mind at this point, far too many decisions for her to make before she gave a direct answer. Soul and her have been talking about what life would be after he became a Death Scythe, since it is right around the corner. Could she even begin to image what life would be like if she was not in the picture? How the dream would work out if she was out of the equation?

"We do not have much time, Miss. Albarn." The little demon said, pulling her from her thoughts. "I assume that you do not want Soul to know about our little deal and he will be waking up at any given moment. So, a decision is necessary in a moment or two."

Maka dropped her hands from in front of her to lay at her sides. Her face turned up to look at the demon, wearing an expression that said nothing but determination. "If I agree to willingly give up my soul the moment that Soul becomes a Death Scythe, will you give me your word that you will not hurt him anymore beforehand? I do not want to hear him scream in pain anymore or the deal will be off. Got it?"

"Of course. Soul is no longer a person of interest, so I have no desire to hurt him anymore to get to you." He said. "I must say, Miss. Albarn, you are very good at negotiating. Whatever agreements you want to be met, then I will go along with them. I do not want to mess this up, for the sake of both of us."

Maka did not answer him right away, letting this all sink in. She was close to giving up her soul to save her weapon partner. In the academy, they taught the pairs that it was the weapon's job to protect the meister as they progress to make a Death Scythe. What would they say if they knew that she was planning this?

Of course they would try to stop her. All of her friends would be pleading with her to give up the agreement. Her papa would be crying that he was going to lose his little girl even after she told him that she did not consider him her father one bit. Lord Death would try to stop the inner demon, but that would be impossible without destroying Soul in the process.

And Soul… well Maka did not know exactly how he would react to this. He would probably try to stop it, saying that it was the weapon's job to protect the meister. Yet, there was nothing he could do. The moment that she said yes to this agreement was going to the moment that no one would be able to do anything to stop it. It would be an agreement that was unbreakable, the agreement to sign away her own life.

After a few minutes of thinking it through, Maka let out the breath that she realized that she was holding in. Her eyes met the waiting eyes of the little demon as the smile crawled back onto his face.

"All right, little demon, you have a deal. The moment that Soul eats the soul of a witch that makes him a Death Scythe, I will willingly give my soul to you in place of letting him stay here to work beside Lord Death."

The little demon's laughter filled the room as he stood up. In swift movements, he was standing in front of Maka, meeting her eyes perfectly. "A wise choice, Miss. Albarn." He said as he help out his hand towards her. "I look forward to gaining the power from your soul."

With a single grasp of his hand, the young meister officially signed away her own life to save the life of her weapon.

What a strange turn of events.

* * *

Well, it is 1:35 A.M and I am so tired.

But anyway, this is my new story! I hope that you enjoy this boring first chapter and continue to follow me through this long journey that I have planned. Trust me, I have this entire story figured out and planned in my mind and it gets a lot better as the chapters continue on.

I got this inspiration while I was playing Final Fantasy X. You know how Tidus disappears at the end because he is just a dream of the fayth? Well what if, in that game, Yuna made a deal with the fayth that she wanted to take his place so that he could live on? I decided that I wanted to write a story like that, but not with FFX. I wanted to put it to Soul Eater because I am more comfortable with this one then I would ever be with FFX. I hope you guys do not mind that :)

In this story, I have it that both Maka and Soul are 17, older than in the anime or manga. I don't have the other character's ages planned because I do not see them planning a huge part in this story, but they will come in at some point. And I have it planned for one of my own characters to come into play as a major part in this story. So, I hope you guys will enjoy that.

So, leave a review if you want more or you just plain love me. Add it to your favorites or alerts also, that would be nice too :) love you all forever.

xoxo Alysha


	2. I Saved Your Life

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

**I Saved Your Life  
****So Why Are You Disappearing?**

* * *

"Maka!"

Their eyes both flew open at the same time, but only one of them said something right away.

Maka looked down to meet Soul's eyes; the eyes that were begging her to explain what was going on. She gave a small sigh as she stood back up, patting her skirt a little to get the dirt off of the fabric. Her hand was held out in front of her, offering assistance to the weapon that was still on the ground.

Soul took her hand eagerly, wanting to get off the ground to get some answers. "What happened in there, Maka? Why did you force a resonance?" He pushed on her as soon as his feet were flat on the ground. "You did not need to do anything, I would have been fine."

"Oh yes, that is why I saw you cowering towards a wall when I came in."

Soul opened and closed his mouth a few times, his eyes darting around at the same time. He did not know how to respond to that because that was in fact true. He was showing his fear while in the black room, cowering into the wall as though that would help him get away from his fear. Finally, his eyes locked to the ground below his feet.

"That does not mean that I needed your help." He muttered. "I may be your partner, but you do not have to come running to save me every time something seems that it is wrong. I can keep myself safe, especially from my own mind."

Maka was about to argue with him, but then her mind suddenly snapped back towards the conversation that happened minutes ago.

_The moment that Soul eats the soul of a witch that makes him a Death Scythe, I will willingly give my soul to you in place of letting him stay here to work beside Lord Death._

He did not know that she already saved him.

There would be no more trouble with the demon inside of his mind because the demon was no longer interested in him.

He already had what he wanted, her soul. The soul that would give him the true power he needed for whatever his little mind was planning. Whatever that plan was, it would no longer include Soul once it was complete.

"Okay." She finally got herself to say as she wrapped her arms around her torso and turned her back towards her weapon. "I will let you deal with your own problems from now on. I just wanted to let you know that I was here for you, but I can back off it that is what you want."

It was hard for her to say that, but this argument had to come to an end.

The whole plan could be ruined if she allowed herself to argue with Soul any longer.

Believing it immediately, Soul blinked a few times and then gave one of his signature smiles. "Thank you, Maka." He said and she could hear the truth behind his words even if he tried to hide them. "It is comforting enough to know that I just have you by my side if I need it, but I can take care of this. You will see, this will be over before you know it."

Maka watched as her partner walked beside her, giving her shoulder a small squeeze as he passed, and then walked away from her. Her body would not move until he was completely gone from her sight, descending down the stairs without turning to look back at her. A small smile curled her lips up in the corners as she began to follow after her partner.

_Yes, Soul, this will be over soon. I have finally saved you, saved you from the harm in your life._

* * *

"Scythe meister Maka Albarn and partner Soul Eater, please report to the Death Room immediately. I repeat, scythe meister Maka Albarn and partner Soul Eater, please report to the Death Room."

Maka's eyes shifted up to look at the ceiling of the classroom as she heard her name echo off the walls of the academy. Her face held no emotion, but inside of her mind, she was laughing to herself. She knew exactly what this had to be for.

It was time for their final mission.

It was time for her and Soul to receive the assignment that would turn Soul into a death scythe for good.

It was time for Maka to complete her promise to the little demon inside of Soul.

"Hey, Maka, lets go." Soul called to her, looking down at her as he stood behind her. "This is no time to be dazing off. We need to go see Lord Death, and more importantly, we need to get the hell out of this class."

"Coming." Maka perked up as she leaped from her seat and falling into step behind her partner. "I guess you know what this meeting is for. It is the one that we have been waiting for for a while now."

"Yea." Soul muttered, keeping his eyes forward as he pushed open the door to the Death Room. "I guess it is time for us to finish the mission that we started three years ago. It is time for me to become a death scythe so that we can start that part of that training." Soul sighed a little bit as the pair stopped in front of the mirror. "Ugh, more training. I hate that."

"I will call him." Maka said as she skipped the few steps to close the gap between her and the mirror. Letting out a small breath to fog up the mirror, she started to trace the familiar numbers to call upon her leader. "42-42-564 whenever you want to knock on death's door."

The numbers created ripples through the mirror as the sound of dialing tones filled the room. It did not even reach two rings before Lord Death's image came onto the mirror.

"Hey, hi, hello!" His chipper voice came through as Maka stepped back to be beside her partner. "Meister Maka and weapon Soul Eater, thank you for coming to see me at this point in the day. I know that both of you know what this is for; it is time for you two to get your final assignment from me as a meister and weapon pair. It is time that you two go after the witch's soul that is needed to make Soul a death scythe!"

Both partners smiled up at their leader, knowing that they were so close to the end. Although they were both smiling, it was for different reasons. Soul was smiling because it was finally time for him and Maka to move onto the next part in their lives. And Maka was smiling because she was that much closer to keeping Soul away from the pain in his mind for good.

"Now, for this time around, the witch that I assign you two too will indeed be a witch." Lord Death said, giving double thumbs up. "We do not want you guys to have to start over from the beginning a second time. So, we will be extra careful this time around.

"Now, the witch that will be your assignment is not that far away from the academy. She lays outside of the town and her lair is a very recognizable one. She has the power of scorpions, so that will give you a clue to what her lair will look like to you. Having the power of scorpions also gives her the power of poison, so that will be the difficult part of this mission.

"Once the soul is in your presence, then you are to report back here and then Soul will be able to consume the soul to become a death scythe. Of course, your family and friends in town will be here to see this huge accomplishment.

"Any questions?"

The two partners looked at each other and then shook their heads. "I think we get it, Lord Death." Soul said as he nodded a little. "If it is all right with you, we would like to head out right now. I am sure that it is okay for us to skip out of the rest of our classes today?"

Lord Death gave an okay sign and nodded to the partners. "That is fine with me. I hope that you two have a successful mission and I hope to see you guys come back with a witch's soul in your hand."

"Thank you, Lord Death." Maka said as she and Soul started to back out of the room while giving a small bow to her leader. This would be one of the last times that she would be able to see him and she wanted to make it count. "We will not fail you this time. You will see!"

With that finally saying, Maka and Soul embarked on their journey to bring an end to their first part of their training.

* * *

"Ah, the feeling of being on a mission!" Soul said, stretching his arms behind his head. A few of his joints popped and he sighed in relief. "It has been little while since we have been on a mission. That means, do not mess it up for us Maka. I want to make this one back in one piece, if that's not too much to ask for."

Maka glanced at her partner from the corner of her eyes, seeing a grin stretch across his face. "Yea, I will make sure that we come back in piece." She said, not laughing along with his joke this time around. Before he had time to ask any questions, her hand shot out from her side. "Time to transform. I know that her lair is near and I want to be prepared for anything."

Soul complied without a second thought or comment, shifting his body from man to weapon. His glowing body leaped into the air and Maka's hands lifted above her head, catching the handle as soon as it came down. With a small swing of the scythe, it was in position to fight.

"All right, lets get this done."

The house was now in sight of the weapon pair and Lord Death's words rang true as soon as they saw it. The house was a simple one, one that anyone could find in the streets of Death City. The only thing that gave it away were the statues of scorpions that were placed on the sides of the porch. To anyone else, these were just cheap looking lawn ordainments, but Maka knew better. There was something else about these.

When Maka took a step closer, her theories were proven to be right.

A small red beam came out from each tail of the scorpions. Their line of fire moved around the lawn a little bit until they settled on the middle of Maka's chest. She followed their red line down into she was staring at the dot that was marking it's line of fire. Right as the sound of shooting rang through the air, Maka's feet were off the ground.

Using the scythe's handle, Maka pushed her feet off the ground and swung her body around it so that she was out of the fire range. When she looked back, two small pellets flashed past where she was standing just a few seconds ago.

"What was that?" Soul asked, his voice stained a little bit from worry.

"The poison."

Maka watched as the lines of red moved around the lawn again. They knew that they missed their target and they were searching for the person that was still alive. Once they got no sign of someone, the lights went out, leaving the darkness that was creeping up on Death City. Maka let out the breath that she just noticed that she was holding in.

"That was the hard part that Lord Death warned us about." Maka said as she mapped out the lawn with her eyes, trying to mark the moves that she wanted to make before they happened. "The poison will kill me on impact, so I need to plan my footsteps so that I do not set off the lights again. I do not feel like dying tonight."

_There is too much on the line to die before the deal is completed._

"You need to move around them, trying to get behind them." Soul said, trying to give some advice. He usually kept to himself, knowing that Maka would be able to handle the moving. This mission was important, though, so he needed to contribute to it more than usual. "You are closer to the one to the right of the door, so keep moving to the right slowly. Even if you only trig the one, it is better than triggering them both. We can easily dodge one of them."

Maka nodded, only hearing some of his advice at this point. She knew that he was saying some important things, but she could not focus on him. Her mind was set on this mission and she did not want that to break.

"Move behind it. Right."

Her feet moved a half an inch at a time as she moved closer to the right of the lawn. Her eyes never left the scorpion that taunted her from a foot away. She was waiting for the red light to appear, shoot a poison pelt, and end her life. The sweat was building on her forehead at the thought of that.

"Maka, calm down." Soul said, his voice sounding distant in Maka's ears. "I can feel the anticipation in your wavelengths and it is getting hard to match it. Just take a deep breath and calm down. You are doing fine and you will make it around it."

His meister did not answer him; her mind was still set. She was only three steps away from getting out of the line of fire and she just wanted to get there. The sooner she got to the edge of the lawn, the sooner she would be able to hold the witch's soul in her ha-

The brightness of the red light caught her off guard, cutting off her thoughts.

For a spilt second, Maka's whole body froze. She could not connect her body to her mind, so she could not get herself to move out of the line of fire.

It was a split second too long.

Right before the pelt made it to her body, Maka's mind connected. She jumped onto her toes and moved the handle of the scythe to lay on the ground. Her toes pushed off of the ground and her body swung around the handle to land on the other side.

Even though she was quick with her movements, it was not fast enough.

The poison pelt scrapped across her left arm just as she pushed the remaining parts of her body around the scythe handle. She did not notice the impact until her feet touched the other side of the grass. The pain was throbbing through her arm, sending signals through her body to say that she was hurt. She let out an accidental grunt of pain as she fought the urge to wrap her right hand around the wound.

"Maka!"

"Do not transform!" Maka yelled through her teeth as soon as she heard his voice. "If you transform, I swear that I will kill you myself. Always stay in weapon form, no matter what is happening to your meister. You understand me?"

Soul did not respond to her, conflicted between his instinct and what his meister was saying. "You got hit with a _poison _pelt! The poison could be spreading through your body as you speak! We need to end the mission and get you to Stein so that he can heal you!"

"No! I will see this mission through!"

Without waiting for Soul to talk, Maka held the scythe behind her and began to sprint towards the door. She wanted nothing more than to beat the witch that was just on the other side of the door. With the determination built up in her body and blood oozing down her arm, Maka burst through the doors of the witch's mansion.

To much disappointment, the room in front of them was clear.

"Well, looks like no one is home. Now lets end this mission and get you back to the academy." Soul said as soon as he saw the empty room. "Becoming a Death Scythe will mean nothing to me if you die along the way. Stop being stubborn and turn around now before I force you to."

Maka stopped listening to Soul as soon as he spoke the words about her dying. If he truly knew how this mission was going to end, he would be running out of here with her over his shoulder and not giving it another thought.

That was why she kept her mouth shut.

No matter how much she wanted to fight back, to say what was on her mind.

But she could not and she was going to have to deal with it.

"They are hiding upstairs. They are either unaware of us being here or they are planning something huge." Maka said, speaking through her teeth once again. This was the only way to keep her thoughts inside of her and also to not show the pain that was pulsing through her body. "We are continuing on because it's what your meister has decided to do.

"And when your meister decides something, then it is set in stone."

Soul knew that that was the truth, he could not argue with what she was saying. He wanted to get her out of there, knowing that the poison was spreading through her body as they stood here, but he could not do anything. Maka was his meister and she held most of the control on what they did when it came to missions.

That stupid rule needed to change.

"We are heading upstairs. Get your mind into the game." Maka said, breaking the weapon's thoughts. "For right now, push any distracting thoughts from your head. We can discuss them all when we get back to the academy and when you are a Death Scythe."

She was just saying this to calm him down.

Taking two steps at a time, Maka pushed herself up to the second floor. She was planning what she was going to do in her mind as soon as they found the witch. A few simple moves should take out the witch and then the soul would be right in front of them, waiting for them to retrieve it and become successful. It was going to be an easy mission.

Or so it was in Maka's mind.

As soon as her right foot stepped up onto the floor of the second level, another red beam was hitting her chest, freezing her body as soon as she saw it.

Just moving her eyes, Maka looked up at the enemy that lay in front of her. Not even ten feet from where she was standing, a tall woman stood with her hand held out in front of her. Her face was covered with a dark hood that connected to the cloak that covered the rest of her body. The only part that was shown was her hand, the hand that was held out in front of her with the fingers in the shape of a gun.

That was where the red beam came from.

Her hand was acting as a real gun.

"Looks like I have some visitors." The woman spoke out in her high-pitched voice. "Hmm a meister and her weapon partner. I guess this is the time that I have been looking forward to; when someone comes and tries to steal my soul away from me to create a Death Scythe. Well, lets see how good you two are at fighting. The best one of us deserves my soul."

With a flip back of her head, the hood fell down her back. Her tanned face was now visible to the pair and her piercing purple eyes were staring them down. Maka took an accidently step back at the look on her face, showing some of the fear that was building up inside of her.

The witch titled her head to the side slightly. "Are you afraid, little meister?" She said to her, taking small steps towards them with her hand still shaped into a gun. "Does the sight of a simple witch send fear through your small body? Or is it something inside of you that is shooting the fear through you?"

"Shut up!" Maka shouted out, stepping out with the scythe blade pointed outwards. "I am here from the DWMA and I _will _take your soul now!"

Maka took the first swing, a reckless one, into the battle. With the push of her foot, she sent her body flying towards the witch with the scythe blade above her head. "Your soul is mine!" Her faked confidence voice filled the hallway as she brought the scythe blade down over her head.

The blade was only centimeters away from her head before her body disappeared completely.

Before Maka had time to react, a hand clasped down around her neck.

Her body was slammed onto the wall and held into place with the hand.

She wanted to fight back, if the scythe had not fallen to the ground.

"Still scared, meister?" The witch's face was only inches away from Maka's at this point. "You know, with the poison in your body, you do not have time to let fear rule your life. Are you just gonna die that way or are you going to do something about it so that you can die your pitiful self?"

Maka did not listen to a word the witch was saying. As she tried to think of anything, her vision began to fade out into the darkness. Her head was reeling with thoughts, trying to come up with a way to get away from her. Any way to try to get her soul and to get out of here.

Of course, the witch could see through her determination.

"You are not fearing this battle; you are fearing what is after this." She said, pulling herself back a little bit with her hand still clasped around Maka's neck. "The reason you are on this mission is not because you want to turn your little partner into a Death Scythe. There is something more, something bigger than that. Does he even know, or were you going to wait until after it was too la-"

The voice cut off suddenly.

It was replaced with a painful gasp before it cut off completely.

"Release her!" Soul's voice came through instead, but Maka could not see his face at this point. She could not see anything really as the world began to grow dark around her. "Give us your damn soul so I can heal my meister!"

"You think you.. can fight me.. alone?"

"I do not need anyone to fight beside me when my meister is hurt…"

"You are a stup…"

* * *

"_Maka…"_

_Her eyelids began to twitch a little bit, signaling that she was alive._

"_Maka, please, wake up…"_

_She moved her hand from lying on the ground to lie over her eyes._

_She wanted to wake up, but she did not know how._

_How do you open your eyes again?_

"_Maka, I need you… Please open your eyes so you can help…"_

_The voice was growing closer as she began to connect her body to her mind once again._

"_Maka!"_

_Her eyelids flew open at the shouting, startling her awake._

_At first, she was staring up at a black ceiling, a plain black one._

_Where was she?_

_Was this a familiar place?_

_Has she been here before…_

_Or is this a new place?_

"_Maka, please… I cannot do this without you…"_

_She rolled her head so that she could see what was calling to her._

_But it was not the person that she wanted to see._

"_Well, good morning, Maka Albarn. Did you have a good nap?"_

_The little demon from Soul's soul room was now out in the real world._

_Was this even the real world?_

_Maka sat up a little and placed her hands onto her lap as she took in the sight that she awoke to._

_The little demon was not little anymore. He was bigger than anyone could ever imagine. He had to be a least three times his size. Within his hands, he held Maka's weapon._

_The weapon that was calling for his meister to help him._

"_Maka.. help…"_

_His voice was cutting off now, indicating that he was losing air. The grip around his body was too tight and it was squeezing the life out of him as they spoke._

_If Maka did not do anything soon, he would be lost forever._

"_Come one, meister. Why don't you get up to help your weapon? You know, he will die if you do not get up."_

_Maka pushed her hands onto the ground to push herself off the ground. She pushed up with all her strength, but her body would not move. No matter how much she tried, her body was staying on the ground._

"_What is wrong? Cannot move?"_

_She looked down at her legs and saw what was keeping her on the ground. Metal chains were wrapping around her legs as she watched. They were wrapping themselves the whole way up her legs. She tried to pull at them, but they kept wrapping around her legs._

_She was stuck on the ground, unable to move._

"_You promised you would not hurt him! I gave you my soul and my word! What else could you possible want?" She shouted at the little demon as she kept pulling her legs from the chains. "You promised me!"_

"_Well, my little meister, people go back on their word a lot. Your soul is not enough for me now and your weapon will give me more power than I can ever ask for."_

_Maka looked over at Soul; his face was losing all the color in it and his eyes started to close. By the looks of it, he was going to lose the battle very soon._

_And his meister could not do anything about it._

"_Release him!"_

"_I will not, little meister."_

"_I will kill you!"_

"_I feel like you will already be too late."_

"_Stop!"_

_Soul's body dropped from the little demon's hand as she screamed the final word._

_The chains around her legs disappeared._

_As did the little demon._

_Pushing herself off the ground, Maka got to her feet and ran over to Soul. Her hands were on his shoulders as soon as she reached him, shaking his unmoving body._

"_Soul, you have to wake up!"_

_His chest was not moving anymore._

"_Soul, you cannot do this to me!"_

_His skin was pale and growing colder as time passed._

"_You are my only partner! What will I do if you are gone?"_

_There was no movement coming from the weapon's body._

_Maka stopped her shaking as she took in the reality of the situation._

_Her weapon partner was gone._

_He was no longer in this world._

_She was alone, no one by her side._

"_Soul…"_

_She laid her head down on his chest and let the tears flow through her eyes._

"_Why did this happen? It was supposed to be the complete opposite."_

And now you see how it feels.

_Maka's head shot up from Soul's chest when his voice rang through the air. It did not come from his body, it was echoing through the walls of the small room they were in._

Do you realize that this is how I would be if you go through with your little deal?

_Maka's head whipped around as she tried to find the source of the voice._

You think you are helping me, but you are just being a selfish person.

You are going to ruin our future.

You are going to ruin it all…

* * *

Maka's eyes shot open once again, but this time, it was for real.

When she opened her eyes, she was met with the face that she just lost.

"Good, you are awake. I wanted you awake before we reached the academy so that you could see the reaction that we are going to get from people. I cannot go through that without my partner."

Maka heard what Soul was saying, but she was too busy trying to figure out what was going on around her. They were no longer in the small black room. There was no more little demon torturing them.

They were back in Death City.

Back on the stairs that were leading them to the DWMA to be specific.

"What happened?" Maka said as she tried to sit up a little more, but she was restricted once again. Panic began to spread through her body, but it was not chains that were holding her down. She finally realized that she was being carried in Soul's arms. He was restricting her movement so that it was easier to carry her. "What happened to the witch?"

A familiar grin spread across Soul's face when she asked. "Well, I kicked her ass of course!" He said with much enthusiasm. "After you passed out, I had to take over the fight. I battled her for a little bit, but she was not much of a fighter. I had her defeated within like ten minutes. It was almost like…. She wanted me to take her soul."

Soul shook the thought from his mind before continuing on.

"After I got her soul, I grabbed you and the soul and rushed out of there as quickly as I could. I needed to get you back here before the poison spread through you body enough. And then we got here and yea. That's the story that you missed and it was an awesome one!"

Maka smiled a little bit before flinching a little bit at the pain in her arm. The poison was still in there. It was reminding her that this was real life and everything was going to work out the way that it was supposed to.

"And that is why I rushed out of there. I need to get you to Stein before we head to the Death Room."

"No, no." Maka objected right away. "Just take me to the Death Room right away. Professor Stein will probably be there, so he can heal me up while you consume that soul of the witch. Everyone is already waiting for us there, so we cannot keep them waiting. Take me to the Death Room."

Soul looked down at Maka, thoughts running through his mind. He did not know if he should listen to his meister or do what he thought was right. After giving it some thought, he sighed. "Fine, Maka. Professor Stein better be there or we will leave right away."

Smiling, Maka moved her arms to wrap around her weapon's neck. "Thank you, Soul." She said into his shoulder as she hugged him. "I do not want to ruin your day by taking up time. Everything will work out fine, trust me on that."

X

"Congratulations, Maka and Soul!"

The smiles grew on both of their faces when the sounds of their friend's voice filled the Death Room. Everyone they knew was there to support them during the most important accomplishment of their teenage lives. They did not want to miss out on this amazing transformation that was about to take place within one of their best friends.

What they did not know was that they were going to get more of a show then they asked for.

"Maka-chan, what happened?" Lord Death was the first one to point out what was wrong with the picture in front of them. This caused the rest of them to create worried expressions on their faces as they came closer to the pair. Professor Stein pushed his way through the crowd so that he could get a better look at the situation. "I assume everything went well enough to get both of you out of there alive. You did receive the soul, right?"

Soul reached his hand that was holding Maka's shoulders a little closer to her chest. Pushing her coat aside a little, a small purple soul was revealed to the people in the room. "Of course I got it." Soul said, smiling up at everyone. "I had to do it quickly so I could get Maka here before the poison spread through her body. You can heal her, right Stein?"

Stein's hands were already on the place of impact, examining it to see a cure. "Well, it is only a small scratch, so that means only a little bit of poison got into her system. With a small shot, the poison will just dissolve in her bloodstream." He said as he pushed his glasses farther up his nose and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I have that in my office if you would like me-"

"Of course, get it now."

Stein smiled a little before walking out of the room, waving his hand behind him. "I will be right back. Do not do anything without me." The door closed on him, cutting his last word a little too short.

"You can set me down, Soul. I think I will be okay to stand up on my own for a little bit." Maka said as soon as the room filled with silence. She was moving her leg to get out of Soul's arm already. "The poison is only a little bit in my body, so it should not have too much effect on me."

Soul gave her a longing look, one that was just wondering why she could not cooperate with him for once. Sighing, Soul swung her legs out of his arms and set her feet gently on the ground. Even thought she told him she would be fine, he insisted on keeping one arm around her waist to keep her steady.

She decided not to argue with him this time.

"Maka and Soul, I just want to say that I am very proud of the two of you. I knew that this witch was going to be a hassle, but you went through it without a second thought." Lord Death began to say to pass some time. "Maka, you even went on knowing that there was poison in your system. You want to make sure that Soul was going to get the soul that he deserved. You two are going to go far as a Death Scythe pair; probably far enough to surpass your mother and father, Maka."

Maka let her head drop to hide the tears that were on the rims of her eyes now. She did not want to show emotion at this point in time, especially since she knew what was coming.

"All right, this is the antidote that Maka needs."

Stein walked into the room at the perfect time, breaking the emotional shell that was over the room now. Soul turned his body, taking Maka with him, so that he could face Stein. The syringe was in his hand with the needle pointing out towards Maka's arm. As soon as he was close enough, the needle was plunged through Maka's arm.

Maka flinched at the stab, but only showed it by a small flinch.

"Thank you, Stein. You do not know how much that means to me."

Maka looked up at Soul, seeing the truth running through his features. "All right, now that I am cured, let's get to the main reason why we are here." Maka said, pulling her coat aside and pulling the soul out of her coat. "Here, Soul. Take this and get the power that you have been waiting for."

Soul removed his arm from Maka's stomach, making sure that she was stable first, and took the soul from her waiting hands. He examined it, almost like he was amazed that he was actually holding a witch's soul in his hands. It was like his dreams were coming true right in front of him.

Maka backed away from him a little, moving away so that she stood slightly behind the rest of the group that was in the room. She did not want to draw attention away from Soul at this moment, giving him his moment to shine.

"Here we go." Soul said as he held the soul out a little bit. Grabbing the top of it with his left hand, he dangled the soul over his waiting mouth and let it drop in. It was always how he ate his soul that was never going to change about him. When the soul dropped into his body, the transformation took place immediately.

Streams of smoke surrounded his body as the bright lights began to flash behind them. The smoke kept forming until his body was completely gone from view and the only was to see him was when the lights flashed and his shadow shown on the smoke wall. After a few seconds, shadows of scythe blades began to show as well as his body, showing that his weapon form was transforming within him.

Soul was silent through the entire thing, letting the show tell all.

All of their friends were in awe as well. They could not take their eyes off of what was happening in front of them, wanting to see the finished product. This was the first time that they were going to be able to see a Death Scythe in the making and they were truly curious of how it was going to go down.

All of them were curious except for Maka.

All she was curious about was what was going to happen when the show ended.

Within a few seconds of thinking that, the smoke began to disappear from around Soul. His body was visible to everyone and it looked like he did not change one bit. He still had his hands stuffed into his pockets, as usual, and his face held the grin that it always did.

It was official; Soul was a Death Scythe.

Soul looked around at everyone in the room, enjoying the attention that he was getting from all of them. They were all murmuring to themselves, wondering how his weapon formed looked now and how he felt. He did not answer any of their waiting questions, though; he was too busy enjoying this.

The final person that he made eye contact with was Maka.

Their eyes locked for a few seconds before Soul's face began to show any emotion or reaction.

The first one to come was confusion.

Then it changed to shock within seconds of seeing what was happening.

Then it ended with the panic expression.

During all of this, Maka just stood there. Her hands were folding in front of her and she just smiled at Soul as he tried to make sense of everything. When the look of panic came to his face, she took a few steps forward. As she grew closer to her partner, everyone else in the room began to realize what was happening between the two partners. The murmurs stopped and they were replaced with gasps.

When Maka got face to face with Soul, she simply laid a hand on his face.

"Soul, you do not have to wor-"

"Why can I see your soul, Maka?"

* * *

Holy crap this is the longest chapter I have ever written!

It took me five days to write this chapter and I hope that it turned out how I planned for it to. I am excited to start the next one because it involves one of the biggest parts of the story!

I hope that I have people still enjoying my stories even though I am gone for long periods of time! I just want to let people know that I am still alive. I have been working a lot to save up for Otakon and other cons that are coming up. I need to start my Yuna cosplay and get some finishing pieces of my Kairi cosplay.

It's summer and my life is still a mess (:

Anyway, I hope that people still read this story and enjoy this long ass chapter!

I love you all forever.

xoxo Alysha.


	3. Everything is Planned Out

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

**Everything is Planned Out**

**But Do I Get A Say In This?**

* * *

"Maka, what the hell-"

"What is going o-"

"Can someone explain to m-"

"Why can we see her so-"

"Everyone shut up!"

Soul's voice echoed through the room, silencing everyone completely within a split second. The anger in his voice was almost terrifying that some of the people in the room found themselves cringing from it. They have never seen their friend this mad before and it was a temper that they did not want to witness in their lives.

Maka, however, stood completely still in front of Soul with her eyes glued to his.

She had seen this coming, this reaction from him, and she was ready to face it.

It was not like this was the first time he acted this way.

"Maka." His voice brought her back from her thoughts. At some point, Maka dropped her hand from his face and his hands found their ways to grip her shoulders tightly. "Explain what is happening. Right now."

The group around them shuffled in closer, closing the spaces between everyone. They were still muttering to each other, trying to figure out for themselves what was going. Maka heard all of what they were saying; things ranging from all of them suddenly getting soul perception to a disease that she somehow attracted.

Maka was finding this funny for some reason.

Maybe it was to just lighten the mood a little bit before the explanation came.

"I do not have a lot of time to explain." Maka muttered, backing away from the group. She grasped Soul's hands into her own and gently lowered them back to his sides without taking her eyes off of his. When there was nothing keeping her locked in place, she began to move towards the far side of the room. She turned her back on everyone and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Let me just say that I made a deal so that you could keep living."

"So I could keep living?" Soul asked. Maka shot him a look from over her shoulder, telling him to keep quiet while she was explaining. He was not helping the situation by talking.

"I knew that I needed to do something to help Soul with the problems that he has been having with the little demon in his head. I could not just let him keep living with the daily pain that I was witnessing, so I took matters into my own hands.

"When Soul was going through one of the pain episodes, I forced a resonance with him and.. made a deal with the little demon." Maka said, closing her eyes to see if anyone would say anything. When no one spoke up, she continued slowly. "In exchange for Soul being able to live as a Death Scythe and without pain, I willingly gave my soul to the little demon.

"That is why you can see my soul. The little demon is taking it as we speak."

As expected, the rage boiled over inside Soul when the last words left her mouth.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Soul roared as he took a few steps forward. Even with her back turned, Maka could hear the stomping of his feet. He did not make it all the way to her, though. "I told you to stay the hell out of my business for a reason, Maka! I knew something like this was going to happen because you always think you have to fucking save everyone!

"Why couldn't you just leave it all alone like I told you?! Why don't you ever listen to me for once?!"

Maka's body whirled around and the words spilled from her mouth before anyone in the room could react.

"And let my partner get eaten from the inside out? Let my partner die before he had the chance to live his dream next to Lord Death?"

Soul's face fell a little bit at her words, but he did not falter all the way. He tried to keep somewhat of a strong face on.

However, everybody saw through it.

"Yes, that's right." Maka said, placing her hands onto her hips as she took a few small steps towards her partner. "I gave up my soul so that you could continue to live here as a Death Scythe. I knew that you wanted this ever since you found out you were a weapon. I want you to see that dream through, even if I am not there to see it with you."

"Maka…" Tsubaki, finally, spoke up from the group of friends. She kept herself in the back of the group, though. "You've wanted to be the most power scythe master since your mother. What about your dreams?"

"There will always be more meisters, but scythes are rare to find."

Her words were filled with power that they left all of her friends speechless. They all looked at one another before looking back down to the ground and taking a few steps away from them. Soul was still a statue when Maka focused back on him before turning to Lord Death.

"Lord Death," Maka said, capturing his attention immediately. "I do not have much time left, but I want to hear you agree to one thing before time is up. Since I will not be around to train with Soul, can you promise me that he will be put with someone that is good enough to be his partner? He needs someone that will keep him focused."

Lord Death clasped his hands together and looked down at the disappearing meister. "I will do better. I promise that Soul will become a personal weapon of mine here. He will train beside me and your father from this day on." He said, his voice losing its cheery tone at once. "It will be a promise from me that will always stay."

Maka nodded once before looking back at her weapon. Her eyes trailed over her father, only stopping for a split second. If he wanted to say something to her, than he was going to have to take the first step. It was not going to be her job this time around.

She had nothing to say to him at this point.

"See Soul? You are all set here. Lord Death will keep you next to him so that you will become as powerful as you dreamed." She said, trying to keep her throat from becoming tight as she talked. "And the little demon will not be bothering you anymore. So, you will have not have anymore problems."

Soul did not move an inch after she was done talking.

She took that as a sign that he had nothing more to say to her.

Maka looked down at her chest, fully seeing her soul pulling out of her body at this point. Giving a small sigh, she took a few steps away from everyone.

"I guess this is it guys." She said, folding her hands behind her back and giving a small bow to everyone.

"Wai-"

The moment Soul started to say something, a small light luminated from his chest. Everyone's eyes grew with surprise once again as they focused on what was happening in front of them. Even Maka was surprised with what was going on in front of her.

"It seems like the time has come, little meister." A voice came from the air in the room, confusing everyone in an instant. Only two people in the room knew exactly who's voice that was and where it was coming from. "Your soul needs to be in my hands now."

The little demon appeared in front of Soul, coming out from the light that was glistening on his chest. His hands were folded across his chest and his teeth were bared as he smiled up at Maka. The look would usually scare Maka, but she was trying to keep fear from entering her body at this point.

However, she could not keep the shock from entering her body.

"Did you think that I would not show up here?" The little demon said to her, reading the express that she wore. "I need to get the soul myself so that the power will become mine in an instant."

He advanced towards her, his hand reaching out towards the soul that was visible to everyone in the room. His smile grew with every step that he took, wanting to hold the power in his hands. Maka, though, closed her eyes and waited for the end to come.

"No!"

Maka's eyes flew open once again to see her partner standing in front of her. His hands were spread out at his sides and his body was blocking hers from the little demon's.

"I will not allow you to take her away!" He yelled at the demon. "You cannot take someone's soul to gain a power! She is my meister and I will not allow you to hurt her and take her away from us! You will have to go through me now!"

With a flash of light, Soul's arm transformed into a scythe.

"Stop it." Maka said, stepping around her partner as she placed her hand on the scythe blade. "Haven't we tried to fight him before? You know as well as I do that we can not beat him by fighting. The only way that we are going to get rid of him forever is to give him what he wants. He will leave you alone once my soul is in his hands."

Maka walked towards the little demon, pushing the blade down until it was down at his side. At that point, he transformed his arm back into a human one. "Just let this happen the way that it is planned and life will just end up back to normal."

"You cannot expect me to continue on with this life without you as my partner!" Soul said, his hands folding into fists at his sides. "You are my partner, Maka! You are the person that sees the good in me and will always give me a chance even if I screw everything up. I cannot live without that now! You cannot expect me to!"

Maka did not turn towards him when he said that, her eyes just casted down to the ground. If she looked at him, the emotions would boil up inside of her and she would break down in front of everyone. At this point, she needed to be the strong one in the group.

"Everything will be fine."

It was a line that she was going to repeat until it was over.

Maybe if she continued to say it, than she would be able to believe herself.

The little demon raised his hand once again when Maka came closer to him. "This is the best choice Soul." He said as his hand took the shape of Maka's soul.

"You cannot do this!" Soul yelled once again. "You cannot just leave expecting my feelings to leave!"

Maka stopped a little bit before she continued to walk towards the demon. "Everything will be fine." She said as the demon wrapped his hand around her soul. She watched his movements as he began to pull her soul towards his body.

"Can't you see Maka? I fucking love you!"

Maka's eyes widen at that point as she whirled around to face Soul. With the sudden movement, the little demon did not have a chance to remove his hand from around her soul. When she spung around, her soul was ripped from her chest completely and ended up in the hand of the little demon.

A small gasp escaped from her lips as she fell to her knees.

"Maka." Soul skidded to the ground in front of her as she cupped her chest into her hands, feeling the pain of the soul being ripped from her chest. "You are such an idiot Maka, such an idiot. You could not just leave it all alone and you went and did something like this."

Maka looked up at her partner slowly, reaching her hand up to his face once again. She could see her skin slowly dissolving in front of her eyes at this point. When her hand reached his face, it went completely through his skin.

At this point, it was all over.

Maka's body fell backwards towards the ground, only to be caught by Soul's arms. Her eyes fell slowly as her body began to dissolve from her feet up. With every passing second, another part of her body was gone from sight.

Soul took these last moments to press his forehead against hers. He tried to keep it from going through her face, but it was harder than it looked.

"Why must this happen this way?"

As soon as the words left Soul's mouth, the last bit of Maka's body dissolved in front of everyone.

Soul did not move from the position that he sat in. It was the only way to keep him from thinking the worse thought possible.

At this point, he was partner less.

Maka Albarn was gone from this world… forever.

* * *

Well, this is a very short chapter that I am not a big fan of.

This is the most important chapter in this story at this point, but it was the hardest one to write. I had no idea how to write it when I started this, so I kind of just went with it. It kind of sucks in my opinion, but I have some people that are going to disagree with me. Oh well, it is just my opinion.

Also, there is a reason that this had to be short. The reason is when I ended the last chapter, Maka's soul was already showing. So there was not much time between that and when her soul was taken from her, so I could not rant on and on within the chapter. I hope that does not bother anyone as much as it bothers me.

Anyway, I hope you guys somewhat enjoy and I hope that you will leave me some amazing comments about how much you want the next chapter.

Love you all (:

~Alysha


	4. You Thought It Would Be Fine

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

**You Thought It Would Be Fine  
But Is It Really?**

* * *

"Quicker! You have to move your fists quicker!"

Soul held his fists in front of his face, his eyes focused on the targets that laid in front of him. Spirit was behind them, holding them in place with his hands, yelling orders at his new student. He did not let his authority voice falter for one moment though.

He knew that it was his job, right now, to keep Soul's mind occupied.

"Do you think Lord Death wants a weapon that is not built on speed?" Spirit barked at Soul, seeing the anger boil within the young boy. "He needs someone that will be able to perform better than all the other weapons in the world. He needs a weapon that will be able to defeat a enemy in a blink of an eye. Do you want to let _Lord Death _down?"

Huffing out a breath of anger, Soul rammed his fists into the punching gloves that were waving in front of his eyes. He let the anger flow from his body into his hands, making his fists pound harder into the fabric. As the punches continued to flow, Soul fell into blind rage.

He could not control his movements anymore, turning them all over to the rage that he let boil over. Usually, he was good at controlling his emotions, making sure to keep them in check. For the past three months, however, there was no need for him to do that. His emotions could run wild all they wanted and there would be no one there to stop him.

Because, in the end, he rarely had anyone near him.

"All right, Soul. I think that is enough practice for the day." Spirit called to him over the pounding sound of his gloves against the targets. The punches did not slow down, though. "Soul, enough with the punches!"

The blind rage continued to cover his vision.

He was not able to hear the commands of his teacher and the punches just continued to grow stronger with every passing moment.

With the strength growing, his thoughts began to lose control as well.

"Soul, stop it!"

_He will leave you alone once my soul is in his hands._

"Soul Eater!"

_See Soul? You are all set here._

"Stop it!"

_Everything will be fine._

"That is enough, Soul Eater!"

In an attempted to stop the raging weapon, Spirit lowered the targets to grab onto one of Soul's fists in midair. His plan, however, backfired on himself.

Instead of stopping him, one of the flying fists connected with Spirit's jaw line. With a single punch, it knocked the Death Scythe to the ground in a flash. Feeling the sudden difference in the punch, Soul snapped out of his blind rage and was able to focus on what was in front of him once again. And the scene became clear to him in an instant.

"Oh shit."

Spirit's narrowed eyes shot up at Soul once he muttered those words. Soul just laid a hand out to him, but it was declined within seconds. Spirit jumped back onto his feet and the rage was clear on his face the moment it was up close to Soul's.

"Lord Death also needs a weapon that will be able to control his anger. Think if you went out of control like that around Lord Death? Do you think he would be able to win a battle if he cannot even communicate with his weapon? Do you want to let him down just because you got yourself into a blind rage fit and got lost in your pity thoughts?"

Soul pushed him away from him, turning his back on him. "I will not lose control again." He muttered though clenched teeth as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "You cannot expect me to act like nothing happened and that it will all just go away."

"I lost someone to, Soul Eater!" Spirit spat at him as soon as those words left his mouth. "Do not think for a second that I act like nothing happened. She was my fucking daughter and she gave up everything for you! And all you do is get angry about it!"

"You did not lose anyone! You never cared for her, even if you tried to show it! You were the reason that she was so closed up until she met me!" Soul yelled back at him. At this point, their chests were pressed up against one another's. "I am the only one that has the right to be angry and upset about this!"

Within a few seconds of those words leaving Soul's mouth, a fist connected with the side of his face.

His body fell to the ground, mimicking the scene that just happened a few moments ago with Spirit. Soul was shocking with his movements that he could not even respond to it right away. Instead, Spirit took the chance to give one last threat.

"You have no right to speak about her that way. She was perfect before she met you and she would still be _alive _if you were not in the picture." Spirit said before pulling away from Soul's face. He turned his back on him and began to stroll off. "She gave you a life to live, so why not start living it?"

Soul glared after his teacher as he rubbed his hand against his swelling cheek.

This was going to be a lot harder than he planned.

Soul threw his duffle bag to the ground beside the door as the sound of the slamming door echoed in the room. The room that was now empty and unused by anyone. He tried to keep out of here as much as possible, only used it for sleep and food.

Whenever he could, he found somewhere else to be.

It was too hard to stay in here anymore.

Soul shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind. He could not get himself thinking about that again. It would not be helping anyone at this point.

He crossed the room to the small kitchen and pulled out the half a sandwich he had placed in there this morning before leaving for training. He did not have much of a need to cook anymore, so the appliances were almost never used. He only made the simple things, seeing as only one would be eating from now on.

Tossing the plate beside the sink, he made his way to his room as he popped the last bit of sandwich into his mouth. He pulled clothing from his dresser drawers and made his way to the bathroom that was next door, ignoring the mess completely in his room.

_She would be so angry if she saw that mess._

Soul flinched a little when his thoughts began to drift that way once again, but chose to ignore it once again as he turned the water on in the shower. Stepping inside after striping his clothes, he let the water run over him for a little while.

At first, he wanted to let the water just get rid of all the dirt that was on him from his training session from Death Scythe.

Then it turned into not realizing what was happening around him anymore.

The thoughts in his head became too powerful and overran his head, filling it with every memory and thought that it could process about his late partner. All the days that they spent together, all the missions that they completed together, and all the events that they went to together.

There was key thing to all of that; it was all done _together._

"Everything has changed because of that key point." He muttered to himself, his lips spiting the water that was dripping onto his lips. He laid his arm against the shower wall and leaned his forehead on top of that. "The together part was a real important key. You were the one that would always push me to do things out of my comfort zone and now I am just letting myself fall back into it. It is amazing that I still have friends."

And it was true. The walls that Soul had destroyed when Maka became his partner were now slowly rebuilding themselves. He was closing himself off from the world, not to let anyone come near him. His life was a routine now; wake up, go to training sessions, see Lord Death about what was happening, maybe attend a class with Stein, and then come home for dinner and sleep.

He had himself on a schedule that pushed all of his friends out the equation.

"It feels like a totally different place from the moment you left, Maka."

Saying her name out loud sent a shocking through his body. He let out a deep sigh before pushing himself off the shower wall and turning off the water that was now running ice cold. Wrapping a towel around himself, he walked out of the bathroom and straight into his room.

He did not even steal a glance at her room, knowing that it was necessary to pass it to go back to his room.

No one entered that room since she left and he made sure to keep it that way. He wanted some part of her to remain and he kept that hope in her room. No one was allowed to take a step inside and the door remained closed the entire time.

Nothing was going to change behind that door.

Flopping down on his bed after changing into his pajamas, Soul pushed himself under the blankets. He laid flat on his back, looking up at the dark ceiling above. The memories that still filled his head now filled his eyes with images as he closed them for the night. Events from the pass filled the dark void that separated him from sleep and he wanted it all to end.

The faster he went to sleep, the faster he would be able to escape from the pain.

_But there is no true way to escape from the pain, is there?_

* * *

Maka bit down on her lower lip as the image faded away from the hazy screen in front of her. "This was not how it was supposed to be." She muttered to herself, folding her arms over her chest. "You were supposed to go out and live the life that you raved to me about almost everyday. Do not let the walls that I worked hard to knock down come back up."

It was hard for her to watch her partner live this way, but it was not the way she expected everything to play out to be. And now, there was nothing that she could do to fix it.

All she could do now was watch him from a distance, praying that he will be able to steer away from the person that he is slowly becoming.

Standing up from the ground, Maka patted the dir off of her dress before turning away from the hazy screen. She needed to get away from it for a little bit; to get her mind off what was happening in the world below.

Actually, it was still amazing to Maka that she was able to watch the world below.

There were never any stories of a world after a person passed down in Death City. Most of the kids never gave it much thought, thinking that something would just happen at that given time. To Maka, it never crossed her mind that there would be some world after life.

Especially after giving her soul to the Little Demon.

Here she was, though, with other people that have passed on from their first lives.

And she was able to watch over the world below her, especially her partner.

"At least it is something." She muttered to herself as she began to wander around, passing other people that were wandering along with her. The people that she passed were not familiar to her, not a single one of them. She found herself not caring, though.

It seemed like no one else around cared, either.

They just went on their own way, not heading towards any specific direction.

This is how it happened every day.

Nothing has changed since the day she got there.

"Maka?"

Until now.

Maka whipped around to face the source of the voice and nearly cried out in despair. All of these sudden emotions came bubbling up to the surface at once. It was almost too much for her to handle at once, but she managed to keep herself steady to mutter out one word.

"Mom?"

* * *

This is a really short and boring chapter, but it is mostly just a filler. The main point of this chapter is just to show a little of what is to come in later chapters.

So yes, Maka is still a part of the story. It may seem weird to people how this is possible, but it works out perfectly with what the story has planned. If you have seen or played Final Fantasy X, the place that Maka is in is like a Soul Eater version of the Farplane. It is a place where souls gather when they pass on and it creates like an image of them. It is really hard to explain, but I hope that at least some people will understand and be able to follow along.

If you really want to know, then you should look up the Farplane from Final Fantasy X on youtube. It will help you see what I mean, but it is a little bit different.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little filler chapter. I wanted to get it in before I had school this week since it is a 4 day weekend right now and I work all day tomorrow. I will try to post another one as soon as I get the chance to, trust me.

I have people that post reviews to just ask me to post another chapter. I am always going to get to it if I can get a little patience. Thank you. (:

Anyway, still love you guys forever.

xoxo Alysha


	5. Clearing My Mind

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

**Clearing My Mind.  
****Would You Like To Join The Adventure?**

* * *

"Momma!"

Maka rushed forward, her dress brushing past her legs as she ran. Her arms were already spread wide before she reached her mom and she just ran straight into the arms that were waiting for her.

She honestly thought this was a dream.

"Maka, honey." Kami muttered as she tightened her arms around her daughter. Both of them held onto each other like it was the last time that they could see one another. "What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be here!"

Maka just buried her face in her mom's shoulder, not wanting to answer the question that was presented to her. What would she say? How would she react to this? She would defiantly not understand why she did this since she never saw how her partnership with Soul went.

Could she really give her the true answer?

"Maka?"

Regrettably, Maka pulled away from her shoulder while keeping her arms around her waist. Stray tears were making their way down her face as she looked at her mom. She deserved to know the truth, even if it would hurt her.

"You may not like the answer." Maka muttered before taking a deep breath. "Before my partner, Soul, became a Death Scythe, he was having trouble with some black blood in his body. It was causing problems, making him think that he needed to give his soul so that a small demon that the black blood formed could leave him alone.

"Well, instead of letting the small demon take control of my partner's body, I gave up my own soul so that Soul could continue on with his training and live the life that he tried so hard to get."

Kami looked down at Maka for a little bit, a smile placed on her face. "Maka, honey, I know what you did for your partner. I was watching over the entire time and I could see the exact event of when you gave your soul over." She said, placing one of her hands on Maka's cheek. "What I meant was what are you doing here? You know that watching over Soul is not a good thing to do."

"Wait, you knew what I did?" Maka said, pulling away from her mom's arms. "How long have _you _been up here?"

Kami's smile faltered a little bit, but it still never left her face. "I know that the news of my death never got to you because I did not want you to find out. I was never part of your life as much as I wanted to be when your father and I got a divorce. I just wanted you to continue on thinking that I was just out on training missions or something else for Lord Death."

"But why? Why would you not want me to know that you had passed?"

"Because I gave my soul as a sacrifice too."

* * *

"Wow, you are actually still alive? I would have never guessed since I never hang out with you anymore."

Soul rolled his eyes as he punched Black Star in the arm and walked into his apartment. "With that talk, you sound like a teenage girl." He muttered as he threw his jacket onto the couch before flopping down on top of it. "Just thought I would make a presence in your life before you tracked me down."

Black Star fell on the couch beside him, rolling his eyes a little as he turned on the TV. "Well, I did not want to pressure you to hang out with us after everything that has happened." He muttered, though his eyes never left the screen. "Tsubaki has been a mess since it has happened so I cannot image how bad you have been."

Soul focused on his hands as Black Star talked. It was hard, but it did not occur to him that his friends would be affected as well. "I cannot image how Tsubaki feels about this." He said as he rubbed his hand over his eyes. "It has been hard, but I guess that I have been trying."

Black Star nodded a little bit and opened his mouth to say something, but the bedroom door opened down the hall. A small sniffle was heard before the footsteps made their way down the hallway. Tsubaki made her way into the living room, but stopped suddenly when she saw Soul sitting there.

"Oh, hello Soul." She said, the strain in her voice could be clearly heard. She continued to make her way towards the kitchen. "I did not know that you would be over today. How are you?"

"I am just fine." Soul muttered as he followed her with his eyes to the kitchen. Her eyes were red around the edges and so was the tip of her nose. A tissue was clutched within her hand and anyone could hear that she had been crying in her voice. Soul forgot that Tsubaki would also take this badly. "How are _you_?"

Tsubaki was pouring herself some tea when Soul asked the question, but stopped shortly when she began to think of an answer. After a few seconds of thinking, the tears began to creep down her cheeks once more. "I have been better. Now, if you will excuse me." She muttered as she quickly made her way back to the bedroom.

"Tsubak-" Black Star began to say as he stood up, but the sound of a door slamming cut him off. "Shit." He muttered as he sat back down, putting his head in hands.

"Has this been a daily thing?" Soul asked, leaning back on the couch once again as Black Star tried to gather himself again. "I am guess she has been like this since she lost Maka."

"I thought it was getting better. She was going to school and out on missions, acting all normal and like herself." Black Star said, keeping his face in his hands. "It has been ten months now. I was hoping that it was finally going to pass, but I can see that it is going to take some more time."

Biting on the inside of his lip, Soul stood up off the couch. "Maybe it was just me being here that set her off. I mean, maybe seeing me reminds her more of… Maka." He hesitated a little bit when saying her name, still finding it hard to say it out loud. "I should just go."

"Dude, you might be the one that can help her. She won't listen to me or let me help her with anything. If she sees you outside and around your friends, then maybe she will see that it can get better. I mean, she lost her best friend and I can see that she is upset about, but it should start getting better." Black Star said, gripping onto Soul's shoulder to keep him from moving. "I am starting to think that being in this town is not good for her right now."

"What do you mean? You want to take her away?"

Black Star smirked a little bit, the devilish one that he always wears. "I already have a tripped planned. It's just a month around the country to all the states that she has never been to before." He informed him. "I think it will help her get her mind off of things and I already informed Lord Death that we would be taking the time off. He agrees that it is for the best."

"Well, that is a smart plan." Soul said, nodding a little bit in agreement. "I wish I would have thought of that before I started my training. Maybe I would not be so angry during the training sessi-"

"You did not let me finish moron." Black Star interjected, rolling his eyes. "Lord Death also agreed that it would be best for you too."

Soul opened his mouth to say something, but Black Star glared at him to get him to shut his mouth.

"Do not try to argue with me. The tickets are set and the plans are already made. You are coming with Tsubaki and I on our trip around the country whether you like it or not."

* * *

"You gave up our soul?" Maka said, astonished with the words that were coming out of her mouth. "Who did you give up to? Why did you do it? Was it a real rea-"

"Maka, calm down a little now." Her mom said, giving a small chuckle. "Let me tell you the whole story before you decide to ask me another question.

"While I was over seas, I was dealing with a clan of witches. They were threatening to take out Lord Death and they had so many witches on board that I was afraid that they could actually do it. I tried to compromise with them, but nothing was working. I thought nothing was going to work until they realized what type of soul I had.

"They agreed to take my soul in trade of going after Lord Death. Of course, I had to take the offer. So, I gave them my soul and I have been up here ever since."

Maka was stunned by the response she got from her mother. To be honest, she thought that she was going to get some stupid response, but it was impressive. Her mother gave up her soul to protect someone, just like Maka did.

They were more alike then they thought.

"Wow." Maka finally said after a few seconds to let it all sink in. "You gave up your life to protect Lord Death? Even though you do not work directly for him anymore, you will put yourself on the line for him."

Maka found this hard to believe herself with the experience that she had with her mother in the past. With the divorce ripping through their family, Maka found that her mother was not part of her life as much as she wanted to and figured that she was just an abandoned child.

With the words that she was just told, Maka was seeing her mom in a new light. She would take care of anyone, close or not, before even thinking about herself. Other's lives were more important, no matter the cost that it would cost her. It proved that her and her mother were more alike than either of them thought.

The compassion they felt towards other people, it was something that connected them.

"Well, I guess I see where I get that mindset from." Maka muttered, smiling up at her mother. "I guess that means that it did not surprise you when you saw what I was doing to protect Soul. You would have done the same thing for a person that you care about deeply."

Kami nodded in agreement as she pushed some stray hair behind Maka's ear. "It did not surprise me, but seeing you here does. Maka, honey, what are you doing here, watching over Soul like that?"

Biting down on her lip, Maka did not want to look her mother in the eyes. "I just want to know that he is living the life that I gave him. I was hoping that he would just train besides papa and Lord Death and then continue on with the duties of a Death Scythe." She confessed quietly as she shook her head shortly. "But non of that is true. His life has been a mess, even after all this time."

"He cared for you, a lot."

Maka nodded slowly. "I know he did, those were one of the last words that I heard from him. I just wanted it to go the way that I had it planned in my head, but nothing is happening. Everything has been worse since I left and I wish I could take that back."

Kami smiled when she heard Maka say that. It has been the one line that she has been waiting to hear so that her offer could be given. "I am glad that you mention that." She said, pulling a hand from Maka's side to hold it in her own. "There is a way, you know. There is a way that you can go back to help Soul out."

Emerald eyes shot up from the ground to lock onto Kami's, wide with disbelief. "Really?" That's all she could get herself to say. Was this going to be some sick joke that they were playing on her? Were they going to get her hopes up only to stomp on them in the end? "Could it happen?"

"There is one way and one way only, darling." Kami told her as her voice turned serious. "The Elders have been talking about you since you gave up your soul to save Soul. The bravery that you showed to give someone a life that they have worked so hard to gain even though you have put the same effort. They feel like you may be the only one that take the Path of Salvation."

"The Path… of Salvation? It sounds a little fake." Maka admitted, shrugging a little bit. She was not going to let herself fall for this until she knew for sure that it was real. She did not want to set herself up for disaster. "Has anyone else gone through this path?"

"This path is saved for the people that do no wrong in life. They are the ones that truly deserve to get a second chance to get what they wanted. Not many offers have been given out, so this makes you a special case."

Maka looked up at Kami, raising one eyebrow. "But you did the same thing as me. You gave up for life to save someone. Doesn't that mean that you are a special case to? Shouldn't you get a chance to travel down this Path of Salvation?"

A deep sigh escaped through Kami's lips as she looked anywhere else beside's her daughter's questioning eyes. The truth was the only thing that was going to help this situation. There was no other way around it now.

"I was given a chance, but I knew that you deserved it more than I did. Only one person can leave this afterlife, Maka, and that one person is you."

* * *

Miss me?

I know that it has been a while.. a long while since the last time that I have updated and I am going to use the same excuse that I have been using the entire time. School sucks a lot. It is my last year and I need to keep my grades up so that I am able to have open campus for lunch (trust me, it is a big thing). I do not have the time to write, even though I really want to have all the time in the world.

But I have not lost interest in this story surprisingly!

I love this story so much and I have so happy to have another chapter out there for people to read. I hope that it is worth the wait and I hope that people are still out there to read my stories. I know that is may seem that this was kind of just put in there, but trust me, I have it all planned out in my head and it is working out perfectly.

This story is going to work out amazingly and I hope that people will continue to follow it as it develops it. I know that things are confusing and it seems like it may be a little rushed, but it will all work out in the end. My stories always do, so just stick with it so that it becomes an amazing story.

So, thank you all for reading and reviewing my story while I was gone. It means a lot to me that I still get reviews for stories that have not been updated for a while. It is amazing! Thank you all so much.

Until next chapter.

xxAlysha.


	6. The Path of Salvation

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

** Path of Salvation  
****Will I Be Able To Pass?**

* * *

"I cannot take this opportunity from you! It's wrong!"

"This is not up for debate, Maka. Time is running out as we speak, so I need you to the Elders soon or neither of us will have the chance to return."

Maka opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to form the words that she wanted to say. Her mother earned this opportunity just as much as she did, maybe even more. Was it wrong to take this for herself?

Of course it was, but Maka could not help but want to take it.

"It is not right for me to take this." Maka muttered after a little bit, shaking her head slowly. "You have been up here longer and you will be able to help the world more than I would. It is your opportunity and you were the one that was offered it."

Kami rolled her eyes a little while turning Maka around. She placed her hands on her shoulders and started to lead her away from where they were standing. "I am not arguing with you about this anymore." She said, dragging Maka to where she was needed. "You are going to go see the Elders right now and you are going to start earning your way back down to Earth."

With disagreeing, Maka just let her mother show her the way towards the Elders. It's only been a few months since Maka got here, but she did not know what the Elders were. They had to be powerful since they had the power to give Maka the chance to go back down to Earth to be with her friends.

To be with Lord Death.

To be with Soul once again.

Maka's eyes looked down to the ground when that thought crossed her mind. Inside, she was excited that there would be an opportunity that she could be with Soul again. There was a nagging feeling there that made her not want to see him again. She ripped herself from his life without telling him anything.

He may have told her that he loved her, but was that enough to let her back into his life?

"Are you all right?" Kami muttered, squeezing her daughter's shoulder for reassurance. "You know, it may seem like you are taking an opportunity away from me, but there will be more for you back down at Earth. Just think of you is waiting for you down there and I bet he will be happ-"

"What if he's not?"

They both stopped walking after those words left her mouth. Instead of leading of her by her shoulders, Kami walked to her side and grabbed her hand before walking forward again. "He is going to be thrilled, honey. Do not think otherwise."

"I left him without a warning. The last thing he told me was that he loved me, but is that enough? Is love ever enough in these kind of situations?"

"It will be enough."

Maka looked over at her mother, noticing that she kept her eyes forward the entire time. "And how can you be so sure about that?"

Kami lifted her hand once they reached the destination. The wide gates opened up when her hand was held out.

"Love can always conquer if you let it."

* * *

"But Lord Death, I do not think that this trip is a good idea. You promised… Maka that I would stay here and train with you. I was planning on doing that and not taking a stupid trip around the country."

Soul was fuming when he reached Lord Death. He raced straight to him after hearing the news from Black Star that he was going with them on a month vacation. There was no way that he was going with them, even if he had to beg Lord Death to let him stay here to train.

"I feel like this is a good thing for you, Soul Eater." Lord Death said, clasping his hands together. "You have been here ever since Maka left and it is not good for you. Your life has become a schedule and I know that she did not want that for you when she saved your soul."

Soul flinched a little bit at how easily he could say her name and refer to her. It was almost like she has been gone for years. "I know that is not what she wanted, but what I am I supposed to do about it? I need to keep training so that I will be able to fight beside you. I cannot hang out with my friends because when they see me, they think of.. Maka."

"And that is the main reason you need to accompany Black Star and Tsubaki on this trip. They need to see that you are doing better, even if it may not be completely true. You need to show that it can get better." Lord Death explained, clasping his hands together. "Maka was a great meister and a great lost to this academy, but things need to move forward. You are a Death Scythe now and I know that Maka wanted you to live up that title.

"It is time to move on, Soul. She is gone."

Soul shifted his eyes to the ground and turned his back quickly. "Thanks for your time, Lord Death. I guess I should start packing." He muttered quickly before rushing out of the room. The last person he expected to bug him about moving on from Maka was Lord Death and it just happened.

Has it really been enough time? Was it finally time for him to move on?

Soul left out the breath that he noticed he was holding in this entire time. His mind was racing and it was hard to pin down one thought for even a second. Move on? How did you move on from losing a partner and lover?

Find a new partner?

He shook his head almost immediately. Maka stated that she wanted him to train beside Lord Death no matter what happened and that was a promise to keep. A new partner was not going to happen and it was even harder to find a new one when someone becomes a Death Scythe.

What could he do to move on?

Give his heart out to someone else?

The thought crossed his mind and stayed a little longer than he wanted it to. It was possible; many girls out there were dying to just get his attention now that he was a Death Scythe. Getting… Maka off of his mind could just be that easy when there was someone else in life to care about.

Although, did he want to get Maka off of his mind that easily?

Soul shook his head again as he slipped his hands into his pockets, making his way through Death City. There was too much to think about and it was starting form a headache that pounded against his skull. Decisions could never be made that quickly, so why rush into anything?

Even though everyone around him was pushing him to move on from Maka, did that mean that he had to listen? When did he ever listen to what other people said to him? When did he grow so soft?

Kicking the few pebbles that laid on the ground, Soul cursed to himself. "Ever since you left, I have become more like you. I have been listening to what everyone told me do and been following them. When did that start and how soon can I stop it?" He said to himself as he made his way back to the small apartment.

Maybe listening to people can be a good thing.

But maybe just this once.

* * *

"Elders, I have brought my daughter to see you, just like you requested." Kami said as she pulled away from Maka to stand behind her. "She is ready to listening to the opportunity that you hold for her."

The hooded figures did not move an inch. Their chairs were all circled around the room, each of them directed towards the center, facing Maka at this point. Each person that was in the room had a white cloak on, the hood was covering their faces, but it was easy to tell that they were powerful.

They were called the Elders after all.

"Maka Albarn." The man in the largest seat spoke up first, taking the role as leader. He stood up from his seat and dropped his hood, leaving Maka speechless as soon as she saw him. She expected them to all be old, like ancient old, but it was totally different. This man in front of her looked like he was in his early twenties. His should length blond hair framed his eyes and his deep blue eyes stuck out. He was gorgeous, but any girl would have said that.

"We have been watching over you since you decided to give up your soul to help the one that meant the most to you. It seems that you are very brave and a great contribute to the world below."

Maka nodded a little. "Well, thank you."

The main Elder nodded to her, folding his arms across his chest. "Your mother had probably told you what we are offering to you, but there is much more to know before you agree to this venture."

"Whatever it takes."

"Confidence is a good trait to have at this moment." He said, approving of her attitude. "The Path of Salvation has a great reward at the end that is not offer to many, but the price is great. There are tasks that you will need to go through to be able to even have a chance to go back down to the world below.

"The few people that have traveled down this path have not been able to make it all the way back down to Earth. The tasks you will face will push you to your limit and may have to sacrifice some things that are most important to you. You have to be willing to do anything to get back to the people that you miss dearly; to get back to Soul Evans."

Maka looked up at him when his name came out of his mouth. "You know about Soul?"

The Elders all laughed a little at that comment. "Of course we know, Maka. We know almost everything that happens in the world above and below." He said, raising his arms out to show what he meant. "We know that Soul cared for you as much as a young boy can care for someone else. You were his world and now we are giving you the chance to be it again."

She did not move when they were talking about getting her back to Soul. She really did not want that to clog up her mind at this point. The Path of Salvation was the most important thing at this moment and it should be the only thing that she had to think about.

If she kept things on her mind, then something was bound to go wrong during the trials.

"We want to start you on this path as soon as possible. Once you head down, there is no coming back unless you fail a task while trying to get back down to the world below. If that happens, you will be sent back in front of us without any contact to Earth."

This got Maka's attention right away. Her eyes met the top Elder. "No contact with Earth?" She muttered. "Does that mean I cannot…"

"You will not be able to look down on your beloved partner if you fail the Path of Salvation."

This changed things for Maka. There was a big possibility that she could not make it down this path and back to Earth. If that happened, she would never be able to see Soul again.

Was this chance worth it in the end?

The answer to that came soon after she asked herself; of course it was worth it.

Maka nodded to him after a little bit of consideration. "I am ready to take the journey down the Path of Salvation. I will do whatever it takes to get back down to Earth." She said with confidence dripping from her words. There was nothing to hold her back now.

"That is good to hear." He said as he lifted one of his hands from where he had his arms crossed. His hand lit up with a white light and it flashed for a split second, blinding everyone in the room for a period of time. Maka's arm shot up to cover her eyes from the blinding light. "All right, the path is opened for you."

She slowly lowered her arm from her eyes and looked around the room; not seeing any difference. With a glance to her left, a large white door opened against the wall. It almost looked like a church door with elegant designs covering all of the wood. Even though it was a simple door, it amazed Maka.

"Once you step through this door, it will automatically send you to the beginning of the path. Once there, a small light will guide you to the different task that will allow you to continue. There are three of them; one to test strength, one to test companionship, and one to test sacrifice. The last one will be the toughest one you will have to deal with, but once that one is finished, you will be sent back down to Death City."

Maka nodded, taking in all of the information to heart. "Will everyone remember me?" She muttered as she took a few hesitant steps towards the white door. "Their memories will not be erased right?"

The Elder hesitated a little bit before answering. "I cannot tell what the path will do to you or the world below when you go through it." He said. "I can only say that it will send you back to your life when you complete the tasks."

Even though that scared her a little bit, Maka nodded in agreement. "All right, I guess I should start this." She said as she placed her hand on the wood of the door, but a voice stopped her. She almost forgot that she was here with her.

"Good luck, my darling."

Maka whipped around to look at her mother once again. That is when it hit her; this might be the last time that she could see her mom. If she passed the tasks presented to her, then her mom would still be up here.

With that thought in her mind, Maka sprinted over to where she stood and wrapped her arms around her waist. Kami automatically wrapped her arms around Maka's waist, holding her close to her. Tears began to roll down both of their cheeks.

"No need to be upset, Maka." Kami muttered, her voice thick with emotion. "I will be able to keep an eye on you from up here and I will take any chance I have to do that. You will never be without me in your life; I will always be there. And I will always love you, my dear."

The tears came faster down her cheeks when her mom said those things. It was true, but that did not take the fact away that she would be away from her mother. They were just reunited and now it was time for them to part again. This was not fair; they should both be able to go back down to Earth to be with the ones that they love.

"Someone needs to go down to take of your father."

A small laugh came from Maka's lips as she pulled away from her mother's shoulder. "That is true." She muttered, wiping the back of her hand across her cheek to get rid of the tears. "Someone needs to make sure that he is all right and not into any bad habits."

They both laughed about that, but the laughing came to an end soon after.

Kami released her daughter and put her hands on her shoulders, turning her to face the white door once again. "Now go. Soul is waiting for you to return and you know that he needs you more than you think." She said, giving a little push to Maka.

Without any more encouragement from anyone, Maka moved to the white door that led to the Path of Salvation. She pushed the door opened without much power and the bright light blinded her once again.

With a quick look over her shoulder, Maka walked into the blinding light.

"Good luck, Maka Albarn. May you find your happiness on the other side."

* * *

"Welcome to the Path of Salvation, Maka Albarn. This is your first task that you will have to complete."

Maka opened her eyes and found herself standing in front someone who was leaning really close to her face. At first, she did not recognize them, since they were so close to them, but it came to her after a little bit.

"Sir Raiden?"

Raiden smiled to her as he leaned away from her face, folding his arms across her chest. "I am glad that you recognize me, it makes things go a little faster if I do not have to explain myself."

Maka was a little too shocked to answer him. It was amazing to her that Sir Raiden was standing in front of her. Everyone that attended the DWMA knew who he was since he was a legend to all of those who want to become a Death Scythe or a meister of one. Sir Raiden was the greatest Death Scythe to be created and he is still more powerful than most of the weapons that were living as Death Scythes now.

All of the weapons wanted to live up to him and now Maka had the honor of standing in front of him. It was amazing, but she knew that he was just part of her first task.

"This task is one to prove your strength. It will test how strong you are and how willing you are to fight someone, even if they are more powerful than you." He said to her, backing up. "To wield a Death Scythe means you have to be able to fight any enemy that is thrown at you."

Sir Raiden waved his hand in front of him, making a wooden sword appear at Maka's feet and one in his hand. "As you know, I am known as one of the most powerful Death Scythe that has been created in history. If you can land a blow on me, then you can fight anyone out there."

Maka leaned down and picked up the sword that was at her feet. "So I just need to land a blow on you? This is not a real fight?" She muttered, adjusting the weapon in her hand. A sword was a new thing for her to handle, it felt odd to hold it.

He just smiled at her and got positioned to fight. "There is not need for a real fight. You are going to be going back to Earth soon, there is no need to have any wounds on you." He said, taking a fighting step forward. "Take your best shot, Maka."

Not needing any more instructions, Maka lunged forward, sprinting towards her target. She let it slip from her mind that she was up against the most powerful Death Scythe known to man. She held the sword behind, almost like she did when she was running with a scythe. The moves could easily be used for both weapons.

Or so she thought.

Bringing the sword down above her head, Maka tried to hit him from above. He did not move an inch since she lunged towards him. When the sword came inches from his head, he sprung into action.

His hand shot up to grabbed the sword from midair. Without glancing up at Maka, Sir Raiden threw the sword, along with Maka, across the room to where she began. With the sudden movement, she did not have the time to catch herself and fell to the ground completely. Her body pulsed with pain as she pushed herself up from where she landed.

"I did not say that this was going to be easy."

Maka wiped her hand across her mouth, cleaning some blood that trailed from her lip. She quickly tried to plan this in her head before throwing another attack. It was hard to do this since, when she was usually fighting, she had her partner yelling and guiding her through it all.

Now that she was by herself, it became twenty times harder.

"Giving up already? How would your partner feel if you gave up in the middle of a battle? I bet he would consider a new partner."

That boiled over the anger in Maka's body. She sprinted forward towards her target without a plan once again. She was relying on her blind anger to help her through this battle now. When someone threatened that Soul would find a new partner, the anger was uncontrollable.

She ran to full speed towards Sir Raiden, who got into a defensive pose, but Maka had a different thought in mind. Instead of doing a head-on attack, Maka ran right past the Death Scythe, confusing him altogether. When she got right behind him, far enough that they would touch backs if she stopped, her arm flew out to the side.

The sword flew out from her side and connected with Sir Raiden's back.

Once it connected with his body, she let it drop from her shaking hand. Maka bent forward and grasped her knees with her hands. Her breathing was fast and shallow due to all of the sprinting that she just did. As she tried to catch her breath, Sir Raiden spoke to her while giving her back a pat.

"Congratulations, Maka Albarn. You have successfully completed your strength task on the Path of Salvation. You may continue on to the next one that is waiting for you."

She did it.

The first task of the Path of Salvation was complete and she was one step closer to being back with Soul.

* * *

See I can post updates not too far apart!

I actually am excited that this story is now getting into the good part of it and I love writing it. It did not take long to get it down on paper. I hope that you guys are just as excited as I am about this and I hope that you will continue to follow me through this amazing adventure.

I promise you guys that updates will not be months apart. Christmas break is coming up and I do not have to work very often. So I will have more time to get this story out for all of you to enjoy, if there are still people out there that enjoy it!

Well, I will see you all next chapter! Until next time!

xxAlysha.


	7. One Step Closer

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

** One Step Closer,  
****But Is Someone Causing More Trouble?**

* * *

"Soul, you are seriously going to just stay in this hotel as well?"

Soul rolled his eyes and leaned against his fist. "You two are more interested in New York City than I am. This place is so boring and the people are annoying." He muttered, glancing down at the streets below him. The busy streets were still crowed, it seemed like people truly never slept in this state. "Go and have fun. I will be here when you get back."

Tsubaki and Black Star exchanged glances before Black Star just shook his head. "Fine, dude, whatever." He said, grabbing Tsubaki's hand before making out of their hotel room. "You know how to connect us if you need to."

The hotel door closed and Soul let out the breath that he found himself holding. This entire trip has been the same thing for the past two weeks and Soul had no plans on changing that. The hotel was the safest place for him to stay at while Black Star dragged Tsubaki around to do sightseeing.

This was the reason he did not want to go on this trip; nothing like this held his interest.

"Lord Death, why did you make me do this?" Soul muttered as he kept looking out of the window. The best part of this trip was that Lord Death had them stay at the best hotels these cities had to offer. The views were just fine for Soul. "You had to know that this is what I would be doing the entire time. What were you thinking?"

However, Soul knew exactly what he was thinking. He wanted him to get over Maka, to get his mind off of her and to focus on something else. Lord Death was hoping that this trip would make everything go back to normal and that Soul would stop moping around.

Even though it did not seem like it was that bad.

People were too concerned with getting his mind off of Maka that they did not care what it did to him. Did they never feel the pain of losing someone that meant the world to you? Was it too hard for them to picture how it must feel? Sure, it has been ten months since she left, but it still felt like it happened yesterday.

Why couldn't people just accept that it would take a little bit for him to fully get over the lost of his partner? She was more than his partner, after all. She was someone that he could fully open up to and give her access to the thoughts that he would never dream to open to people. Maka was the one person that was able to see his dark side and still decide to stand by him all this time. They were the best of partners, able go to hell and back for each other.

If that was not the definition of partnership, then Soul did not know what was.

Soul shook his head, clearing his thoughts at once. The view of the busy city of New York came back into his sight. "Damn." He muttered to himself as he got up from the window seat that he was in. He fixed his shirt a little bit before glancing down at the street once more. "I was hoping that this was going to be ov-"

The sentence never got finished as something caught him off guard, ending his internal rant.

A pair of silver eyes shone from the ground below, connecting with Soul's up in the hotel window. Her auburn hair was blowing slightly as people were passing her, but she did not care. She stood in the middle of the sidewalk, ignoring the people around her, and she kept her eyes glued to Soul.

A small smile formed on her lips when she realized that she caught Soul's attention. Her hand lifted up from her side and her fingers curled towards her, signaling Soul to come to her. She turned her back and started to make her way through the crowd of people, becoming invisible to Soul once again.

Soul blinked a few times as he came back into reality. He looked around the room a little bit, making sure that this was real and that that girl down there was real. When he made sure that it was true, he turned on his heel, grabbed his leather jacket from the bed, and rushed out of the hotel room to follow the mysterious girl.

He did not know why he was doing it, but it was a force that was pulling him to follow. There was something inside of him that wanted to know what that girl wanted and that part of him was stronger than the rest. He hurried down the staircase and out of the lobby. His head whipped around, seeing if he could locate the girl.

A flash of auburn hair caught his eyes as she turned the corner of the street.

Without giving it a second thought, Soul rushed through the streets, following the girl that caught his eye.

Hopefully, this will be for nothing.

* * *

A small ball of light descended from the sky and hovered right in front of Maka's face as Sir Raiden disappeared from her sight. She cupped her hands and raised them to grab the ball of light. It hovered in her hands for a little bit before it started to float ahead of her, creating a small path for her to follow.

She picked up the ends of her dress and started to jog after the light before she lost sight of it. This was the light that the Elders told her to follow so that it could show her the way to the other paths.

"Maybe this will be easy." She muttered to herself as she followed the light. The first task was a simple one, not giving her much of a challenge. Maybe the Elders just said that it would be hard so that it would give her confidence to power through it. "There might be a good chance that I could make to Earth in no time. Hopefully things will be the same. It must have been a while."

How long has it been down on Earth since she left? It only felt like a few days up here, so she knew that the time difference was extreme. Could a lot of time have passed and could things be completely different now? What if everyone was a lot older and they had moved on in life? What if she was doing this for no reason because she had no one to return to?

"Should have thought of that before going on this path." She said as the ball of light began to grow slower. It hovered in a single place for a little longer before moving a few inches. It must be getting close to the place where the second task, the task of companionship, is going to happen. "Well, might as well continue on anyway."

"You have no choice but to move on."

Maka perked up at the voice that was so familiar to her. Was this real? She stopped walking after hearing it and looked around for the source of the voice. "Where are you?" She called as the light ball drifted up towards the sky again. They were finally at the spot where the second task would take place, but what would it really hold for her?

"The life that you left behind is long gone and there is nothing for you when you return. You better be ready to find a new life to live because no one is going to be there for you."

A dark figure emerged from the darkness that surrounded the area that Maka stood in. It took the shape of a human, but it was more of a human that was in the shape. The person looked like they were holding something, a weapon of some sort. Maka, however, knew exactly what that shape was.

It was the shape of a scythe.

"Who are you?" Maka called, taking a hesitant step back.

"You do not need to know who I am." A different voice answered as the person came into full view. It turned out to be a girl, about the same as Maka. Her midnight hair was pulled back into a braid that was pulled over her shoulder. Dark blue eyes shone from behind her small-framed glasses and her red lips were pulled back into a mocking smile. Just by the look she was giving, Maka did not like her one bit. "You will not be around long enough to care who I am. We will stop you once and for all; you will not be able to return to Earth. Like there is really anyone there that still cares for you."

Maka did not respond to the words that she was saying. Her eyes were focused on what was behind the girl; the weapon she was carrying was familiar. It was the weapon that she carried with her for a few years, the one that was always beside her when things got rough. It was the only partner that she could fully trust with her life.

"Soul?"

His face shone through the blade of the weapon, his stupid grin glued to his lips. "Oh look, it's you." He said, a small mocking tone hid behind his words. "Why don't you go back to the little wonder world where you came from and stay there for the rest of our lives? No one down where you are heading wants you back."

"T-that's not true!" Maka shouted, stomping her foot to the ground as her hands formed into fists by her sides. "I know that it's not true!"

"Can't you see that it is?" Soul said, fading back into the blade of the weapon. The girl swung the blade so that it hung protectively in front of her. It was her only safe guard, that much could be seen. "I have moved onto a new, and better, partner. She does not ask for much and is a better fighter than you. I know for sure that I will not get hurt with her wielding me."

The last sentence stung Maka and she hung her head a little bit. She knew that it was true, Soul was hurt all the time while protecting her and she could do nothing about it. She was causing him unnecessary pain and she always thought that he would do better with a new partner.

However, she never knew that it would be true.

"Well, time to die." The new meister said as she raised Soul above her head. "I am sorry that I must take you down with your own weapon, but I must. I know Soul will be happy when you are gone, bitch."

Without hesitation, she rushed towards the horror-struck Maka across the room. As she gained speed in her running, the scythe blade slowly rose higher behind her. The blade shone in the light above and all Maka could see was the end looming near her.

When the blade was inches from hitting her, Maka threw her arms ups in front of her face. It would not help her in anyway, but she thought that it might do something.

The last image she saw before she blocked her face was the face of her past weapon, smiling down at her, as the blade grew closer.

* * *

Soul clutched his knees when he finally got done chasing the mysterious girl, trying to catch his breath. He followed her all through the town and the people that crowed the streets until they ended up in a deserted part of a small park. She leaned against a tree, looking like no chase really happened.

On the other hand, Soul was having trouble catching his breath.

"All right." He muttered through his strained breaths. He straightened up a little bit, but was still bent forward at the waist. "I followed you all the way out here and I have no idea why I wanted to. Who are you and what do you want from me?"

The mysterious girl pushed herself off of the tree with her foot and walked towards Soul. She kept his eyes glued to his as she bent down to get eye level with him and moved her hand to rest under his chin. With a small flick of the wrist, she brought his face up with her hand as she straightened her pose a little.

Without saying anything, she moved his face from side to side, almost like she was examining him for something. "Hmm." She muttered after a little bit, consumed with her own thoughts to form any more words. She removed her hand from his chin and moved it to rest onto his shoulder.

"What are you looking for?"

Her eyes snapped back up to his eyes, breaking from her thoughts immediately. "I was just making sure that you were the right person I was supposed to find." She said, shrugging her shoulders a little bit. "I would be in big trouble if I brought the wrong person, so I need to double check myself before confirming it. It seems that I am right though, you are who they want."

Soul got defensive as soon as she said that. "You are working for someone? I knew there was something off about you!" He said, putting an arm out in front of his body as some sort of protection. "Who are you working for and why do they want me?"

The girl snorted a little bit and pushed her hair off of her shoulder. "I guess I can tell you since you won't remember it for long." She said. "I am technically not working for anyone, but I am working with someone. They are someone that you have been close with for a while and that you just got rid of. If you think hard enough, it will easily come to you, Soul Eater."

The thought came immediately to him. "The Little Demon?" He muttered, almost amazed that he was saying his name once again. Was it really possible that he could be back? "Why are you working for him? What do you have gain from it?"

The girl snorted once again. "Like I said, I am not working for him." She said, raising her hand and snapping her fingers together. In a flash, the girl's body disappeared and the Little Demon's body reappeared in front of Soul. It was like nothing changed and they were back in Black Blood room. "I am him, just taking a form that is easier to tempt you in. All men fall for a pretty girl easily."

With another snap of his fingers, the Little Demon transferred back into the girl with auburn hair. "Do I pass for a pretty girl?" She said once again, snickering through the words.

"You bastard!" Soul screamed as soon as he could process all of what was happening in front of him. With a flick of his arm, it transformed from human into the blade of a scythe. He was ready for anything that this Little Demon could throw at him now. "This was all supposed to end! My fuckin' meister gave up her soul to you so that you would leave me alone! What else could you possibly want from me?!"

The Little Demon did not get a chance to answer as Soul rushed towards him to put an end to get him away. The scythe blade rose above his head and swung downward towards the head of the Little Demon. Even though he knew what the outcome would be like, Soul was still a little shocked to get the reaction he did.

The girl's arm flew out from her side, connecting with Soul's stomach. His body flew across the park opening before smacking into a tree, leaving a small dent within its trunk. Soul's body fell to the ground, giving up on any other attack that he was planning on dishing out.

One single attack had him down for the count.

Was he really someone that they would call a Death Scythe?

The Little Demon walked over to where his body laid and kneeled down beside him. Her hand fell onto his back as he tried to push himself off of the ground. The hand on his back was a soft one, but then she applied pressure to it to keep him down on the ground.

"Now that I have your attention without any interruptions, let us get down to business." She said as she sat on the ground completely while keeping her hand on his back to pin him. "We have some problems in our hands and I need your help once again. As you know, I am as powerful as I can ever become. My power is overwhelming and I intend to keep it that way.

"However, there is one thing in the world that can take my power from me. This one little pesky bitch that will ruin everything." The girl let out a deep breath, almost like she was calming herself down some. "She will come back and she will ruin everything that I have worked so hard for. And that is where you come in.

"You are a powerful weapon and the only person that will be able to help me keep this bitch out of my life for good. It will not take much and then you can go back to your boring life and moping over the lost of your precious partner."

Soul grunted a little bit and he fought against the hand that kept him pinned, but was failing. "Why me? Why do I have to help you?" He muttered. He was now regretting the decision of chasing after the girl that caught his eye. The stupid Little Demon was smart for coming up with this plan, any boy would fall for it. "Can't you get someone else to help you?"

The hand that was holding him punched him in the back, making him moan in pain. "I just said you are a powerful weapon and the only one that can help me with this task. Believe me, I would have chosen any other weapon if I could, but that is not possible. I have been there to witness your power and it is incredible, so it can only be you."

Soul rolled his eyes at the fake compliments he was getting. He was not going to let himself fall for his tricks anymore, so he was on his guard more than ever. "Fine, if it will get you to leave me alone for the rest of my life." He mumbled.

The girl patted Soul's back before releasing the grip that held him down. "That is a good little scythe." She said as Soul got off of the ground, still groaning in pain. "This will start right away, but we need to make it look like this is just part of a daily mission. So, we will need to start acting like weapon and meister…"

Soul's eyes' snapped over to look at her, shocked to hear those words. "Wait, what?" He muttered, turning his body to face her. "You said nothing about becoming meister and weapon! That was not part of the deal and I am not following it!"

Her hand shot out to grasp Soul's neck, cutting off the air supply. "You will follow this." She muttered, her eyes turning from silver to a burning red. "It will not last long and it will help this out. If you do not follow it, I will start killing off all of your friends, one by one."

His hands kept clawing at her hands, trying to get them away from his neck. The air was completely gone and he could feel himself losing his consciousness. "Fine." He finally muttered, barely choking out the small word.

The hand from his neck causing a rush of air to flow to his lungs. Soul fell to his knees as he calmly regained his breathing to go back to normal. "When do we start this shit so we can get it over with, Little Demon?" He said, giving her a dark glare as he continued to concentrate on his breathing.

The girl smiled. "We will start immediately, of course. You will need to stop this little trip that you have going on with Tsubaki and Black Star." She said as she turned her back to him and started to walk out of the park. "Oh, and if we are going to be partners, you better start calling me by a real name. From now on, I will go by the name Elena." She said, laughing a little bit at the end of her sentence before walking completely out of Soul's sight.

Soul staggered back to his feet, feeling all of the effects of the attacks he has received from the Little Demon. He kept his eyes on the place where he disappeared; still not believing completely that this was all happening. First people told him to move on from Maka already and now the Little Demon is back in his life?

Was there anything else that could make this worse?

* * *

There was no pain in the attack.

Because the attack never came.

Maka opened her eyes a little bit to see what was happening in front of her. The mysterious meister was still in front of her, with Soul in her hands, but her body was slowed down. The scythe was coming down slowly, barely moving at a quick glance. She lowered her arms and raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of her.

"What is going on?"

_We are helping._

Maka glanced up to the sky and her eyes widened a little bit. "Elders?" She muttered, amazed that she remembered their voice. "Why are you helping me? I thought this path was supposed to be a solo project."

_She was not supposed to attack on fully. The way this started set you up for disaster._

Maka smiled a little bit at the explanation. "Well, thank you." She said, getting into a defensive position to get ready for the attack that was coming towards her. "It means a lot to me."

_Good luck with the rest of the journey. You will need it, Maka Albarn._

With a small and stiff nod, the world began to fall back into its normal speed. The scythe came down towards her at an alarming rate, but Maka was ready now. She swooped her leg underneath the meister, catching her off guard and making her fall to the ground. The scythe was still in her hand, but it was with only a small grasp.

Maka did not waste a minute to attack the meister that was on the ground. She leapt on top of her and punched her in the jaw. The blind rage began to take over Maka and she found herself beating the meister with all of the strength that she had. There was no way for her to control herself, but she found that she did not want to stop.

"Maka, no!"

A hand caught her raised fist, stopping her attack instantly. Maka's head whipped around and caught the gaze of his crimson eyes. The look of them calmed her, but the look inside of them made her upset once again. They were pleading eyes, begging her to stop the fighting that was going on. Soul did not want his new meister to get hurt, just like he would not want Maka to get hurt if he were her partner.

However, her anger was still overpowering.

Maka yanked her fist from Soul's grasp, causing him to lose his balance and fall back onto his bottom. She turned her attention to the meister that was beneath her, seeing the bruises already forming on her face and her breathing becoming shallow. Her fist rose above her again, ready to release the final blow that would knock her unconscious.

But her fist would not move.

It was stuck in the position above her head, not wanting to give the punch. Maka looked up at it, expecting to see Soul holding her back, but that was not the case. Soul was still sitting on the ground, too shocked to move once again. He did not believe the scene that was happening before him, but could not bring him to stop it.

So if no one was holding her back, why couldn't Maka fight anymore?

This girl took her partner from her, taking the weapon that she cared for deeply away. She made him break his promise that he would stay with Lord Death and not get a new meister. She caused him to forget about his old partner and just move on with his life…

Was that really a bad thing though?

Soul needed a new life to live, he deserved it after all Maka put him through for the past few years. He was a powerful weapon and that needed to be shared with the world. He would be able to take down any enemy that would be thrown at him. Why shouldn't he be put with someone that could go out and make the world a better place?

Thinking that Soul did not deserve to have what he wanted in life was selfish. Maka gave up her soul so that he could live on and experience what he wanted in life, like being a Death Scythe. If being a Death Scythe meant that he needed to get a new partner, than that is what he needed to do.

Whatever made Soul happy was good enough for Maka.

Her fist slowly lowered as Maka got onto her feet and moved off of the meister that was on the ground. She lowered her head a little bit and linked her hands behind her back as she backed away from the pair.

Soul ran over to the meister that was lying on the ground as soon as Maka moved away. He called for her to get her to wake up or respond in anyway, but he was not having any luck. She was knocked out from all of the hits that Maka gave her.

"I am sorry." Maka muttered softly, not making eye contact with either of them. "I should not have attacked her just because you two are partners. If you want to get a new partner, then that is your decision. I should not be mad at what makes you happy, it is the main reason that I gave you the life that you deserve."

Soul looked up at Maka as she talked and a smile grew on his face with every word that she said. It was a good sign that she was saying these things, as it took her one step closer to completely this task. When she was done giving her little apology speech, Soul stood up, causing Maka to look at him.

"Congratulations, Maka Albarn. The second task of the Path of Salvation is complete."

As those words rang through the air, the scene began to change in front of Maka. The body of the mysterious meister on the ground disappeared from sight, making it look like it was never there in the first place. The blood smeared on the ground was cleared and any trace of her was gone from this place.

Soul also began to change. His body began to glow and transform right in front of Maka's eyes. He grew taller and his hair grew a longer as it changed from pure white to golden blonde. When the transformation was complete, a completely new person was standing in front of Maka now, but she knew it was.

"Mifune?"

Mifune smiled at Maka as he walked towards her. His hands rested on top of her shoulders when he reached her. "You have passed the second task of your trip. You should look more thrilled than that. You are one step closer to being brought back down to Earth."

Maka was still confused, though.

"Wait, how did I complete this? This was a task that was going to test my companionship. How did what just happen show that?"

Mifune patted her shoulders a little. "Maka, you proved that you are willing to let your partner have his happiness. You did not stop the new meister completely, even though you wanted to." He explained, trying to make it as clear as possible. "Your friendship with Soul, and probably any of your other friends, was more important than the anger that you wanted to express. And that was what we were testing, how much your friends mean to you."

Maka looked up at Mifune, her eyes shining a little bit and a smile forming on her lips. She finally understood what happened and it was beginning to dawn on her that she was growing closer to Earth. "So, I can move on to the last task?" She asked.

Mifune smiled and nodded, releasing his grip on her shoulders. "Of course, Maka. We all want to see you succeed on this path, so I will not hold you back." He said, motioning his arm out to the side to show her the way to go. "Good luck with the rest of the path."

She was about to run off down the way Mifune pointed, but she needed to do one last thing first. Maka walked up to where Mifune stood and threw her arms around his neck, giving him a small hug.

"Thank you, Mifune. I will not fail any of you."

Mifune smiled and hugged her back quickly before releasing her. He gave her a small push towards the rest of the path so that she would move forward. "Go, it is time to end this." He said as his body began to fade into the light. "Return to Earth where you belong."

Maka nodded before jogging down the path, leaving the second task behind.

There was only one thing left for Maka to do before she could go back Earth.

Back to the life that she left behind.

Back to her one true partner, Soul.

* * *

This is the longest chapter I have ever written and I am so proud of it!

It took me a day to get this chapter right and I just finished it a few minutes ago. I wanted to make sure to get it right because this is a big point in the story. Maka is almost done with the Path of Salvation and now the Little Demon (or Elena as she wants to be called) is back in the story! I hope that people will understand what is going on and I will be here to answer any questions that might pop up while reading this long chapter.

It is nice to have a break from school and everything so that I can just sit down and write. I always want to put chapters out fairly quickly, but something always comes up to ruin that plan. I love school breaks just for these late night writing sessions! I might be able to put out one more chapter of this story before I go back to being a senior in high school!

On another note, I posted a new story last night! It is my first one for Final Fantasy X and it is a twist in the original story plot. It is set with Tidus as the Summoner and Yuna is the one from the Zanarkand that lived over 1,000 years ago. I do not plan to go with the real story line a lot, or at all, but it will be enjoyable. If you like my writing and you like FFX, then I hope that you will take the time to read the first chapter of that story!

Finally, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will give it some wonderful reviews! I will see you in the next installment!

xoxo Alysha.


	8. Sacrificing the Heart

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

** Sacrificing The Heart.  
****Is it Really Worth It?**

* * *

Maka did not even need the ball of the light to guide her to the last task. She kept running the way that Mifune pointed, letting the ends of her dress brush past her legs with every movement. There was no way of telling that it was the right way, but Maka found herself not caring about this anymore. This journey was almost over and she was just moments away from going back to Earth.

It was an amazing feeling, knowing that your loved ones were only a step away.

The last task could not be as hard as the Elders said it was going to be. They said that this whole path was going to be a challenge, giving her tasks that would test her to the extreme. Sure, the last one was the hardest one as it showed what could really be happening down on Earth, but it was nothing that she could not get past.

What could this last task possibly throw at her?

The small ball of light caught up to Maka in a matter of seconds, taking the lead once again. It would have to show her where the final task would be taking place, giving the exact location of where the last person that would deliver the task would be waiting. They would give the task of sacrifice, forcing Maka to give up something that was probably going to be important.

The ball of light slowed down in front of her, hovering in the middle of a small dark room. It looked the same as the other rooms, but there was something off about it. The feel of the room made goose bumps rise on the back of Maka's neck as she took in the surroundings.

"Is something horrible going to happen?" She muttered to herself as she took one more step into the center of the room. "Why does something feel of-"

A purple fog filling the floor of the room cut off her words. She started to back up as an instinct, but then it hit her of what it was. "Purple fog…" Maka muttered to herself as it swallowed up her feet, making them invisible to her. "I swear I have seen this before somewhere. It feels familiar."

"Well, I would hope that this would feel familiar to you, Maka Albarn."

Maka's eyes closed as she let out an angry breath. That voice was very familiar to her, as she heard it many times when she was down on Earth. It was the one voice that she did not want to hear, but she was no longer afraid of her. It was now more of an annoyance to her.

"Why? Why did it have to be you to give my final task?" She muttered out, opening her eyes once again to see if she was in the room. "They could not find any other person that was more suitable for this job?"

The figure stepped into the purple fog and made her way to the middle of the room. She flicked her head back and the hood that was covering her face fell down her back. Her sinister smile formed on her lips, causing Maka to roll her eyes. "I am the best one for this. I know so much about sacrifice since I gave up so much when I was alive."

"You gave up nothing, Medusa. You always sacrificed others so that you could get what you wanted." Maka said, folding her arms across her chest. "Lets look at Crona. She was forced to live the life that you wanted and she got no say in it. I am sure that she knows way more about sacrifice than you do, just like everyone else in the world."

Medusa put up her hand, not even responding to what Maka was saying to her. "As much as I would love to argue about this, I am only here to give your next task." She said and Maka could almost hear her rolling her eyes during it. "You already know that this is your last task and the hardest one that you will be faced with. This one is going to be the task of sacrifice, meaning you will have to give up something big on Earth when you are sent back."

Maka raised an eyebrow at her statement. "So, I am going to be sent back and my task will be completed down there?" She asked, trying to make sure that she understood everything. "How will I be able to know if I passed the test or not?"

"If you would stop interrupting me, then I would explain everything to you."

Maka put up her hands, giving up the fight. "Fine, have it your way. I just want to get back to Earth, so go ahead and explain everything to me quickly."

Medusa sighed a little and crossed her arms in annoyance before continuing on. "Before I send you back down to Earth to be with the ignorant people that you are friends with, you must be willing to give up something that is of importance to you.

"It will not be easy to deal with and there will be some rules that go alone with it because once you go back down to your life, then it is no longer just your test.

"You have made it clear that the main reason that you want to go back down to Earth is because you want to be reunited your partner, Soul Eater. You gave up your soul so that he could continue living his life as a Death Scythe, but he has not been living the life that he was given. For this reason, the moment that you go back down to Earth, then this also becomes his test."

Test Soul as well? Without him knowing what was going on in the first place? How could this even be possible? Maka kept all of these questions to herself, knowing that she was not going to get anywhere if she said anything to Medusa. She would just have to wait until the end, even if it was driving her insane not knowing.

"I know that you are probably going nuts by wondering what going to happen, but I haven't even gotten to the good part of this explanation. I am pretty sure that you want to know what you have to give up in order to go back down to your old, pathetic life, I am right?"

Maka nodded slightly, her attention sucked into what Medusa was saying.

The sinister smile returned to Medusa's face as soon as she got to the sacrifice part. "Well, my dear, it is very simple actually. In order to get back to Earth, you must agree to give up your status."

"My status? What does that even mean?"

Medusa began to move around the room at this point. She moved her hands to fold behind her back and she began to pace around Maka. "Before, you were a strong meister that attended the DWMA. You held a weapon in your hand and you fought evil to collect souls to create a powerful Death Scythe. The last thing you had to collect in order to obtain that rank was a soul of a witch, which according to the DWMA, is one of the lowest statuses in the world.

"So, you must be willing to give up that meister status and live on with another one. The new status that you will get is the status of a witch; the moral enemy of the DWMA."

The world seemed to stop around Maka as those words sunk in. A witch? She was supposed to give up almost her whole life to become a witch? "A witch?" She muttered after a little bit, almost not believing her own words. "I am supposed to go back to Earth and become something like you? How does that even test Soul then?"

"Like I said, a witch is the moral enemy of the DWMA. Naturally, if one comes up around Death City, then Lord Death will send someone to take of it." Medusa explained, almost enjoying giving the details. She was excited to see this unfold in front of her eyes. "However, if a very powerful one comes, then a Death Scythe will have to take of it. That is where Soul will come into play.

"Lord Death will have to send the only Death Scythe that is available to take care of the witch, which will be you. He may recognize you or he might not, put it is his job to prove his feelings for you even in the worse situations. He must piece the pieces of the puzzle together himself, with no help from you.

"Once a helpful hint or anything that gives you away slips from your tongue, then the task is over and you will be sent up here forever. You also lose your connection to Earth or so I hear."

Maka tried to process all of this in her head. All the details were clear to her, but she could not believe that this was happening. The only way that she was able to reunite with her old life was if she gave it all up to live the life as a witch, the enemy that she trained her whole life to defeat.

She also had to rely on Soul to piece together a puzzle so that she could get her real life back. That part made her cringe a little bit. Soul was never one to solve issues easily. If this goes as well as the other challenges that he was faced with, then she would be living as a witch for a while.

The Elders were not kidding when they said that this task was the hardest one that she was going to have to deal with.

"Are you ready to accept this and go back down to Death City?"

Maka held up on finger to Medusa, who stopped her pacing to stand right in front of her. "I have a few questions before I accept this huge task." She said, trying to gather the confidence that she had at the beginning. "How will I obtain my powers for being a witch? Are you going to be giving them to me or what?"

"You will obtain the power of the elements. It is common for a witch to have control over one of them, but it makes someone extremely powerful to have control over all of them. You will be almost unstoppable, which will give your little weapon plenty of time to piece this altogether."

Maka nodded, understanding it and feeling a little better knowing that there will be a lot of time spent near Soul. "And I am not allowed to say anything to Soul about this task or about everything altogether?"

"Soul Eater must not know that you know about what is happening. He will just be coming to stop and witch, which will be you. He will probably recognize you, but you must not say anything about you knowing you he is. To you, at this point and until he figures everything out, he is nothing but your enemy."

"Okay." Maka said, looking up to match gazes with Medusa. The confidence that she had before was now radiating within her once again. She was ready to get on with this task and get back down to Earth. It did not matter to her now that she was losing her status, as long as there was a way that she could get it back. "I am ready to take on this task."

Medusa let out a small giggle as soon as Maka said that. "Well, then I will send you down to Earth." She said, raising her hand in front of her with her palm facing Maka. "I am forced to wish you good luck, but that is not really my style. So, just go on with your task, Maka Albarn."

Maka opened her mouth to say something, but her head suddenly began to spin. The room and Medusa spun around and darkness started to take over. Her eyes closed on themselves and she was met with darkness altogether.

The last stage of the Path of Salvation began.

* * *

"Are you sure that you want to do this, Soul Eater? I know that this was something that you promised Maka and it meant a lot to you…"

Soul put on a fake smile and he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I am sure, Lord Death. I mean, working next to you and training with Spirit would be nice, but I feel that I am more fitted by being with another meister. Maka would understand, I know it."

Lord Death just stared down at the weapon for a little. He was not sure if what Soul was saying was true, but he could not blame him for making his own decisions. After a little debate, he gave him thumbs up of approval. "All right, Soul Eater. If you are choosing to be partnered with Elena, then I have no choice than to allow it. I hope you find happiness with your new partner."

Soul nodded before flashing his signature grin, which was still fake. "Thank you, Lord Death. I know that this is the right choice for me." He said, turning his back to leave. "Oh, and I will be ready for any mission you have for me at any time. There is no need to wait."

"A-all right, Soul. I will be sure to get one ready for you two very soon."

As soon as the door closed, Soul fell back against it and slid to the ground with his head in his hands. He ran his fingers through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh. However, he did not have much time to suffer by himself.

"Well, that took a long time."

He looked up from his hands to meet the silver eyes that made his blood boil. "What do you want? I did what you told me to, even though I was biting my tongue the entire time." Soul mumbled to himself before lowering his head back into his hands. He just wanted to stop this person that was coming to steal the Little Demon's powers and go back to his old life. "We will have to wait a little bit before getting a mission."

Elena shrugged a little bit before pushing her hair off her shoulder. "I doubt that. I will be able to tell when the person comes here and then the mission to get rid of them will come soon after." She explained, tapping her foot with impatience. "It should not be long no-"

She stopped talking suddenly and tilted her head to the right, almost like she was listening to something in the distance.

Soul got off of the ground and looked the way that he head was tilted. "What is it? What do you hear?" He said, wanting to know the details. If this was involving the mission that he was about to get himself into, then he wanted to know everything about it. The faster he got it done, then the faster he could get rid of the Little Demon.

Her head straightened back up and a smiled pulled at her lips. "Our mission is about to start." She said, leaning against the wall and sliding down so that she was sitting on the floor. "The little bitch has finally come into town and will start causing chaos within an hour or so. I bet Lord Death will send us very soon to take care of her. So get comfortable, we are staying here until we get called for the mission."

* * *

Maka's eyes fluttered open after a little bit, the dizziness still lingering in her head. She sat up slowly, putting her hand on her forehead, as she looked around the room that she ended up in. It was clear that she was back in Death City, just by the way the place look, but this place was unfamiliar to her.

"What is this?" She muttered to herself as she got to her feet. By standing up, Maka realized that she was wearing new clothes. She was back in her red plaid skirt, but she was now wearing a purple halter-top. Elbow length purple gloves covered her arms and green-stripped stockings covered her legs. On top of everything, a black cloak that attached around her neck fell down her back to the floor. A stereotypical witch hat sat on top of her head, as well. "Well, it seems that it all happened the way Medusa told me."

"Miss Maria?"

Maka whipped around at the sound of someone's voice, only to be met with a girl about her age. She was wearing an orange and red dress, almost resembling a blazing fire. "Um, yes?" Maka answered, unsure about what was happening or why she was being called that.

"The fire attack that you requested on Death City has commenced. Was there anything else you would like before Lord Death sends someone?" The small girl sounded scared to even be in the same room as Maka. Was she really that powerful?

"No, that is all… um." She said, not sure what to call her. "What is your name?"

"Caroline."

"Ah yes, Caroline. That is all I need. You can go back to doing whatever you were doing before." Maka said as she turned around to face the window that was behind her. The window revealed a view of Death City, showing flames working their way from the edges of the city to the center. "This will work out perfectly."

Even though Maka knew that this was burning the city that she once lived in, she felt nothing towards it. It was like the emotions were turned off inside of her and she just empty. It was an odd feeling, but she was not complaining about it.

She was almost enjoying this.

Caroline left the room shortly after, leaving Maka alone. She turned away from the window, still taking in what was really going on. She was a witch, an enemy of the DWMA that stood only a few miles away from the house that she was in. It was not long now that she would be able to see Soul.

The thought of Soul's name made her heart flutter a little bit, but the feeling went away right away. He was going to come here to fight her, to try to kill her. If she did not play this right, then it was going to be a hard fall for her that would send her right back up to the Elders.

There was no way that she was going back up there. Soul was going to figure out this and he was going to save her from every going back up there. He was her only way of staying down here and getting her old life back. Hopefully, he grew a little smarter over the last few months.

"Miss Maria!"

Maka snapped out of her thoughts and her eyes darted to the door that flew open. Caroline stood in the doorway with her arm still against the door. She was breathing heavily, almost like she was running from something. "Are they here?" Maka answered, knowing what was going on already.

"Yes, miss. They have just arrived. The front guards are taking care of them." The words spilled from her lips in such a rush that it was almost impossible to understand her. "Would you like someone to stay in here with yo-"

"No, I need to take care of them myself."

Caroline nodded and was about to say something, but she was cut off by the sounds of screams rising from the first floor. She turned her head to look where the sound was coming from, but there was no way she would be able to tell. There was going to be a lot of screaming until they got to Maka and there was no way to stop that.

"Miss Maria, they are here now! You have to take care of them and do not let them have you-"

The tip of a scythe blade protruded from her chest, cutting off her words instantly. She looked down at her chest before letting out a small gasp of pain. The blade was yanked roughly from her and her body fell forward to the ground, revealing her small soul to the world.

Maka's eyes widen at the quick death she just witnessed. This was going to be an interesting battle.

* * *

Maka is finally back on Earth! How many of you are excited?!

Just kidding, I am so tired that it is not even funny, but I had to finish this chapter before I lost my train of thought for it. I have had this idea in my mind for a little bit, but I could never find the time to sit down and write it.

This will probably be the last chapter that I post before I go back to school on Wednesday, so there might be a longer time frame between these chapters now. I am sorry to say that, but I never have time to write when I am in school. I hope that you will all forgive me.

Anyway, I am off to bed now! Thanks for reading and I hope you leave a lovely review for me to read.

xoxo Alysha.


	9. Let The Test Begin

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

**Let The Test Begin  
****Can You Piece It Altogether?**

* * *

"_Soul, shut up!"_

"_Ha! Maka has a crush!" Soul pumped his fist into the air as the grin grew on his face. This was his victorious pose, but it was not used very often in one of their arguments. "I knew it! I just knew it!"_

_Maka's face flushed a brighter red, showing signs of both embarrassment and anger. Her hands curled into fists at her sides as she stomped her foot a little bit. "I do not!" She screamed, huffing a little bit. "Why do you always assume things?"_

"_Assume things? Maka, you were all over him when he gave you the slightest bit of attention! Your cheeks were burning red and you were rubbing your hands together like what you do when you are nervous. If that does not say that you have a crush, then I obviously do not know you well enough!"_

"_That does not say anything! Maybe I just love getting attention from people, then does not mean that I automatically have a crush on him." Maka said, almost losing her grip on the battle._

_Soul was right, however, she did have a crush on this new guy that just transferred into their class. She did not like many guys, but there was something about him. Maybe it was because he was new or maybe it was because he was also a scythe meister, but Maka did not know the real reason. It was just a silly little crush; it did not mean much._

_Why did Soul care anyway?_

_Soul rolled his eyes at his partner. "Whatever you say, Maka." He said, turning his back as he made his way to the couch. "I am just going to keep my opinions to myself then, even though I know they are all true."_

"_Why do you care anyway?!" Maka yelled, not letting this fight go that easily. She stomped forward to where he was sitting, standing right in front of him as he tried to watch TV. He tried to get his view of TV back, but her body was in the way completely. "Why does it matter to you that I have a crush?!"_

"_Maybe I just have fun mocking you…" Soul muttered, still moving his head to get the view of the TV back. "It is just unusual for you to have a crush and it is ent-"_

"_It just sounds like you are jealous!" Maka shouted, cutting off his words. "Maybe you are just jealous of the new guy!"_

_That comment caught Soul off guard as he gave up his attempts to watch TV. His eyes shifted up to lock onto Maka's as she leaned forward with her hands on her hips. He did not know what to even say to her comment, but he defiantly knew that it was not true. There was no way that he was jealous of some lame teenager having a crush on his meister._

_Or was he?_

_Soul mentally shook his head, but found himself not disagreeing right away. There was a sense of hesitation and that little bit of time between his thoughts scared him a little bit. There could be no way that he was jealous or forming any feelings towards Maka, there was just no way. It was not possible and he was not going to let it happen._

"_There is no way that I am jealous." Soul said, regaining his "cool" voice once again. He stretched out a little bit and moved his arms to go behind his head, breaking his gaze with Maka. "I am just trying to believe that someone actually could like you. I mean, there is no way that anyone could have feelings for a girl like you."_

_He regretted the words as soon as he said them, but he could not take them back now._

_Maka's eyes widened when the words finally sunk in. The anger inside her began to boil and, out of habit, she lifted her hand above her head to release a Maka Chop. "Soul, you…" She started to say, the anger fading from her words and body. It was replaced with depression and the tears began to fall from her eyes immediately. Her hand fell back to her side as her other one went straight to her cheeks to wipe the tears, but there were too many._

"_Maka, I-" Soul started to say as he stood up, but he was out of time._

_Maka turned on her heel and ran from the apartment, flinging the door opened and leaving it that way as she fled. She ran from the apartment building and turned to run down the street. There was no way of telling where she was heading, but she just wanted to get as far away from the apartment as she could. As she ran, the tears distorted her vision and ran blindly through the streets._

_Without realizing it, Maka started to make her way to Death City Park, the only one that was in the city and the farthest attraction from her own apartment._

_As soon as she found a bench, her body collapsed onto it and the sobs took over. Her whole body shook as the tears trailed down her face in a steady stream and she was unable to control them. Maka could not remember the last time that she cried this hard, but she did not want to go through this now._

_Did Soul really mean the words he said? Of course he did; why would he say it if he did not mean it? _

_Although it made her upset, Maka could not deny the fact that it was true. There were not many boys in the world that liked her in a romantic way and they only liked her as a friend. Maybe there was nothing appealing about her and she was stuck to just be a guy's friend._

_A soft sob escaped from her lips when that thought dawned on her. Even though she hated Soul at some points, he did have a habit for telling the truth._

"_So it is true." Maka muttered to herself, clearing some of the tears from her face. The sobs were calming down some, but her body still shook slightly. At this point, however, she realized that it was from the cold air around her. "I am destined to be alone forever. No one will ever like me."_

_A warming piece of clothing fell on top of her shoulders, shielding the crisp air from her body._

_Maka's head shot up when she felt it, not hearing anyone come near her. She turned to look over her shoulder and caught the gaze of crimson eyes. Her eyes immediately adverted away from him as she pushed his jacket off of her shoulders._

"_Come to tell me more about I am going to be alone for the rest of my life?"_

_Soul sighed as he moved to the other side of the bench. He plopped down next to his partner and secured the jacket around her shoulders once again. To make sure that it stayed there, he kept his arm around her shoulders as well. Although she might have hated it, she did not fight against him._

"_Maka, you know that I did not mean it." He muttered to her, pulling her body close to his. "When we get into fights, I say stupid things and they just slip from my mouth before I can catch it. I have got to learn to think of things before I say it, but I am sorry for this time."_

"_Why should you be sorry? I mean, you are right. No guy is going to like me and I am just going to be stuck being by myself for the rest of my life. I guess I should just start accepting it now."_

_Soul growled a little as he turned Maka to face him. His hands clamped down onto her shoulders, keeping her from turning away from him. "Maka, I did not mean it! I swear, you will find someone that will make you happy and that will keep you safe from danger. He will be able to take your anger problems and will still love you through it all. You will be able to raise a beautiful family and your life will just be perfect."_

_Maka looked up at his face to look for any signs of lying, but she could not see any. His whole face was staying completely serious the entire time. He was telling the truth this time around._

_He was telling the truth!_

"_Do you really think that?" Maka whispered, sniffling a little more as the tears came to a halt altogether. The sobs went away and all that was left were some stray tears and her puffy eyes. "Do you really think that could happen?"_

"_I know it will happen!" Soul muttered to her, pulling her to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face into her hair. "You deserve it more than any other person in this world! You will get the happy ending that you have dreamed about in the future, I will promise you that."_

_Maka let her new words sink in, feeling the warmth of Soul's body against hers. After a few seconds, her arms snaked around Soul's torso as she pulled him as close as was possibly allowed._

"_Thank you, Soul."_

_Soul pulled Maka away, but kept her at arms length with his hands on her shoulders. Her swollen, red eyes were beginning to fade a little bit, but there was still a small ring of red. A faint pink color covered her cheeks and her hair fell over her shoulders, as her pigtails were no longer in place. To most people, she would look like a depressed mess._

_But Soul saw her differently. At this point, she never looked more… beautiful. It was her natural beauty that was pushing through and it was a new look for her. It stuck Soul hard and he did not know what to say really, but he had to say something._

"_You are welcome, Maka."_

_And, at that moment, Soul Eater realized that he was falling for Maka Albarn._

* * *

"We are here for your soul, bitch!"

Maka blinked a few times before she focused back on the scene that was in front of her. She was back in the house, her house, and an unfamiliar meister was standing in front of her with her weapon in hand.

It was not just an ordinary weapon; it was Soul.

A twitch of pain shot through Maka's heart when she saw his weapon, but it was immediately pushed away as the desire to fight took over. When she came back down to Earth, the emotions inside of her were turned off. Her body did not allow her to feel anything but the desire to fight and anger.

Was this how all the witches felt the entire time?

"Give it to us now!" The meister yelled again, taking a few steps towards Maka. "We will fight you with all the power that we have and you will lose!"

Maka pulled the brim of her hat down, covering her eyes from them. A twisted smirk fell onto her lips as she got into her fighting mode. "Who says that I will lose in this situation?" She muttered as a small fireball formed into her open palm. "Did your precious leader tell you nothing about me before sending you out? I am a powerful witch, able to control all of the elements."

Without giving them time to answer her, the fireball was thrown from her hand at an alarming speed. It blurred across the room, only showing as a small speck of orange light. Although it was hard to see, the meister was harder to hit than expected.

She pushed the scythe handle down, causing the blade to spin around and blur with speed. The fireball collided with the blade and dissolved within it, causing no damage whatsoever.

"Really? A powerful witch can only do that small attack?"

The anger boiled within Maka as she formed two more fireballs in her hands. She threw them with all of the strength that she could muster up, making them go faster than the last time. "Fine, let me show you streng-"

The fireballs dissolved within the spinning blade once again.

And Maka reached her breaking point.

Snapping her arms out to her sides, flames engulfed her entire arms, The flames blazed up to her shoulders and it illuminated her face, showing the anger that was boiling within her clearly. To anyone that was not here to witness the small fight, they would be having nightmares for months.

Maka decided that a close up fight would stand a better chance. She sprinted from the window that was behind her towards the weapon and meister partnership. Her arms trailed behind her, creating a path of flames on the floor. Soon, the entire room was going to be up in flames, but it would work in Maka's favor then.

"You think you can fight me up close? How is that going to work?"

She did not let her words affect her as she concentrated on the attack she was planning.

Reaching the pair, Maka shot her hands out to grasp the scythe's handle. With the flames traveling up the metal, it made it impossible for someone normal to hold it. The meister gasped after the heat made its way to her hands and her grip faltered a little bit, but it was just enough time for Maka. She shot her leg out, kicking Soul away from her and sending him across the room.

The flames effected him too and he transformed out of his weapon form as the burns started to form on his body.

"Try fighting me without a weapon." Maka muttered darkly as she kicked the meister into the wall behind her. Before she had a chance to recover, Maka lifted her hand and cut off her air supply with her elemental power. The meister clawed at her neck, trying to breath any source of air. "Now you see my powe-"

A painful gasp interrupted her words.

"Let go of my meister."

Maka glanced down at her stomach as she saw a small part of a scythe blade sticking out. The pain was pulsing through her body, but it was nothing that she could not handle. The gasp only came from the surprise of the attack and she tried to convince herself that as she turned her head to look at Soul.

"I said let go of my me-" Soul started to say, but he caught himself. This was the first time that he got a good look at the witch that he was fighting. He never thought that it could be possible, since this witch had black hair, but the eyes gave everything away. He would never be able to forget those eyes, no way in hell would he ever let himself forget. However, how could this be? "Is this possible?"

Maka was so enraged with anger that she did not give him a chance. She pulled her body from the blade and swung her leg out, kicking Soul's feet from underneath him. His body fell to the floor with a thud and a painful moan escaped from his mouth. As soon as his body was on the ground, flames developed a circle to enclose him in one area.

"Stay there, stupid weapon." Maka muttered as she turned towards the meister again. She was clutching her neck and she tried to gather as much air as she could, thinking this was going to happen again. "I will deal with you after she is dead."

"What? No!" Soul yelled as he ran up to the edge of the flames, threatening to get burned if he moved the slightest bit. He kept looking from the fire to Maka, trying to determine what was more important. He was torn between trying to get over the flames or staying where it was safe.

Bending down onto her knees, Maka gets down to the meister's level to look her in the eye. "You look like you are in pain." Maka cooed, the smirk making its way back onto her mouth. "I could be nice and end it for you, but that would be too easy. The people in this world need to learn more about suffering. There is just not enough of it so I will do the honors of showing you some."

Maka lifted her hand above her head, forming more fire into her palms. Her focus was on the meister that lay on the ground in front of her. She placed her hands together, molding the two fireballs into a larger one. "The more painful, the better." She muttered, smiling to herself as she went to let go of the fireball that was in her hand.

"No!" Soul yelled as he jumped through the flames to tackle Maka to the ground. She let out a gasp and the fireball disappeared into thin air. Soul managed to flip her onto her back and pinned her arms and legs to the ground below. Even though they were so close, Maka kept her eyes focused on anything else. "Stop acting like this! This is not you, Maka! You need to snap out of it!"

Maka struggled against his hold, trying to get him to loosen his grip in any way possible. "Get off of me, stupid weapon." Maka muttered through clenched teeth. She tried to get any of her elements to activate, but the grip that Soul had on her were cutting them off. "I will not allow you to take my soul!"

"Shut up, Maka! You are not a witch!" Soul yelled, tightening his grip on her arms. "I know it's you! It is me, Soul! I am your partner and you are not a fuckin' witch!"

The words that came from his mouth had Maka stop her struggling. She turned her face to look at him, making sure not give away anything in her expression. In the inside, though, she was screaming to herself. She knew that it would not take long for him to piece this together, but she had to continue to play along.

"Fuck off, weapon. I am not your partner nor am I a meister."

As soon as she said those words, she saw the anger boil within him and she almost regretted saying them.

Soul let out a soft growl as he pushed himself off of Maka, getting back onto his feet. With a snap of his arm, a red and black scythe blade replaced the human one. "Fine, you want to fight? Then fight me by yourself." He said, getting into a fighting position.

Maka did not know if she should take him seriously. It was rare for him to fight by himself, so she was unsure of how well he could really fight without a meister. She mentally shrugged to herself; it could not be that hard with the powers that she obtained.

After getting back onto her own feet, she backed up to give herself some space to get ready. She placed on hand on her hip and the other one just hung dangerously at her side. "Have it your way, weapon, but I will not hold back one bit."

"You never did anyway." He muttered to himself before he sprinted towards her. The scythe blade trailed behind him, barely touching the ground, but it was enough to make an annoying scraping noise. "Show me your new powers."

Maka rolled her eyes as she held out her palm towards the running weapon. Without saying anything, a strong cyclone of wind shot from the center of her palm. As soon as it hit Soul, his body flew back to the opposite wall and it was pinned there as the wind continued to come full force. She made her way towards him, easily keeping him in place.

"Now what were you saying?" Maka mocked, a smile pulling at her lips. "You actually thought that you could take me on by yourself? You really thought you could beat me? Now tell me how well that is working out for yo-"

Soul was sometimes really smart.

Somewhere between her ranting, he managed to get his blade free from the effects of the wind. He kept it pinned to the wall to make it look like he was stuck, but he picked the right moment to attack. Swinging out his blade, he sliced across Maka's legs.

He cut off her words and created a deep gash across both of her legs.

Maka let out a painful gasp as she fell back onto her bottom. Her concentration and the wind cyclone were broken, given Soul the opportunity to make another move. He jumped from the wall and landed on top of her once again. His arm transformed back into a human one and both hands made their way to her neck.

The air was cut off immediately, which caught Maka's attention. She clawed at his hands, trying to get them away from her. The more that she clawed at them, the tighter the grip became.

"Come on." Soul muttered as he ignored the blood that started to ooze from his hands due to the scratching that Maka was doing. All he wanted was for her to pass out and then he could continue on with his plan. It was the only way that this was going to work. "Just pass out."

Maka's vision began to blur and the darkness took over. The hands that clawed at Soul's neck went limp and her hands fell onto his. Her head fell to the side and she started to relax on the floor. She heard one last thing before she went completely dark.

"I am sorry, Maka, but it must be done…"

* * *

"You have to be kidding me, Soul Eater. How could yo possible do this to the academy? It puts everyone here in danger!"

"I know what I saw, Lord Death! I swear that it is her and I would not let that go unnoticed."

"She is _dead, _Soul Eater. You have to accept that fact and move on from it. This person here is a witch, an enemy of the academy and you let one come into the building. What makes you think that she will not wake up and destroy us all? We need to get her before she gets us."

"Maka will not hurt any of us! She is not that kind of person, even if she thinks she is a witch." Soul sounded like he was on the verge of tears at this point. "I will not allow anyone to hurt her until I know the truth. Even if that means I stand between you and her, Lord Death."

A silence lapsed over the room, making the tension thicken with it. It took a few long minutes until there was an answer.

"You have until the end of the week. If you do not prove to me, or her, that she is who you who say she is, one of the meisters here will kill her. Is that understood, Soul?"

"Thank you, Lord Death. You will thank me in the end."

Lord Death did not answer, but the sound of a slamming door came instead. Soul let out a small breath, probably one that he was holding the entire time.

Maka decided that it was time to find out what was really happening. She slowly opened her eyes, but then realized that she was in a darker room. It was known that she was in the academy, but she did not recognized the room that she was in. However, something else caught her eye that was equally as important.

Cage bars were in front of her, blocking her off from the room around her.

What was going on? Was she being kept as prisoner in the academy? They would never do that for a witch, as they are the enemy.

"What?" Maka muttered, sitting up a little bit. It was harder to do, since she had bondage keeping her hands behind her back. Her automatic reaction was to fight against the bandage, but she was still weak from her fight. "What happened?"

Soul's face came into her view as he bent down to his knees. His hands gripped onto the bars that were in front of him as his face held no expression. "You lost your fight." He said; his voice held no emotion. It was almost like he was saying rehearsed words that were not truly his, but Maka knew that they were. "I got you to pass out and brought you back here where I know everything will go the way that I want them too."

Maka managed to get herself to sit up a little more. She leaned against the back bars, having no strength herself to sit up on her own. Can passing out drain someone so much? "What are you talking about?" She said, trying to get her anger to come back. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You can use that fake anger on me, but I know that it is just an act." Soul said, pushing himself back from the bars as he got back to his feet. When he stood up, only his torso down was visible to Maka. His hands slipped into his jean pockets as he turned his back to exit the room. "Keeping you locked in the academy will help me get through to you. I do not know what is going on, but I know that it is you, Maka. I will make you realize it one way or another."

Before Maka had a chance to answer him, he strolled out of the room in a matter of four long strides. The door slammed behind him, making her jump a little bit in his action. She slumped back against the bars so more, taking everything in that was happening.

At this point, she did not know if she should be angry or happy. Soul was a persistent person and he was going to get his way one way or another. It pissed her off that he would only do it his way, but that could be a good thing.

Pieces were starting to form in his mind and he was started to put them together. He was figuring out that it was her, but he did not know why she was here or how it was possible. Those pieces were going to be harder for him to piece together, but he was going to have to work through it to get her back forever. His feelings needed to be shown and he had to know what she had down to get back here.

If none of that came to him in the next week, then they would both be screwed in the end.

Maka sighed a little bit; it was going to be a long week.

* * *

Hooray! I am excited for this chapter.

I have to say that this is my favorite chapter so far. It was so easy to write since these ideas have been in my mind since the beginning of this. The little flash back that Maka has was just a little thing I wanted to throw in there, since there might be more of them coming up in the future. It is exciting to see this story at this point since I have been waiting for it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will continue to make this journey through this story with me. I can say that it is only going to get better from now on and there will be a lot of twist and turns that will shock many of you! I hope that gets you excited to continue to read it.

On a final note, I have been reading a lot of great fanfictions between my updates and I found one that I am really enjoying. One of my dear followers, SymmetricalGirl8DeathTheKid, has some amazing stories going on right now. You should really go and read some of them, especially one called **Baby's Galore** because it has to be one of my favorites. So, go and read that so that you can enjoy it as well! Trust me on this one, it is pretty good with a plot that you do not normally see!

Also, before I end this, I posted a new Final Fantasy X story a little bit ago. It is called Whistle and I'll Come Running. I would love for those who like that game to go and read that for me. I would love to know if that is good enough to continue! So please go and do that for me. Please?

Well, that is it for me. I hope to see you in the next update. Love you all forever.

xoxo Alysha.


	10. Yesterday We Were Just Children

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

**Yesterday We Were Just Children.  
****But Is This A New, Cruel World?**

* * *

"So, what is your name?"

"Maria."

"Witch or meister?"

"Witch."

"Are you positive?"

"Yes."

"Are you part of the academy or an enemy?"

"Enemy."

"Do you know Soul Eater Evans?"

"Nope."

"Why don't you know him? He is your partner."

"I am a witch, I do not have a partner."

"Do you know any of the people at this academy?"

"Why should I? They are all not important to me."

"What kind of powers do you have?"

"I have control over all of the elements and I have the ability to kick your ass."

A small shock was sent through her arm, earning a hiss of pain from Maka. She pried at the bracelet that was attached to her, but it did not move one bit. It was stuck on her wrist until the end of this shitty experiment that they had going. It was pointless, however, since they were not going to get anywhere with it.

"That was not the question that I asked."

Maka's glare shot over to her, trying to get any of her powers to work at this moment. "No, you asked what my powers were and I gave you the answer that was true. I _can _kick your ass, but you guys are too busy being pussi-"

Another shock was sent through her arm, cutting her words off automatically.

Maka leapt up from where she was sitting and pushed herself against the bars. She stuck both her arms out towards the therapist, trying to get any hand on her to do damage.

Seeing this, the therapist jumped from her seat and backed away from the cage, pressing her back against the opposite wall. She let out an ear-piercing scream, signaling anyone that could hear her to come and help. Maka, however, did not back down even though she was out of range. She kept trying to reach out to grab her.

"Why don't you face me yourself if you are not afraid of me?!" Maka yelled, the anger flaring in her eyes. "No one is near to hear you scre-"

"What the hell is going on in here?"

Maka's eyes automatically rolled when she heard that voice. Of course he was here, he was always here at the academy now. She pulled away from the bars and folded her arms across her chest. Her feet backed away from the bars as she sat down in her spot once again, acting like nothing happened.

"S-she tried to attack me." The therapist said, clearly shaken from a small attempt at an attack. She needed to man up if she was going to deal with Maka. "She r-reached through the bars to hurt m-me."

Soul put a comforting hand on her shoulder and muttered something to her that Maka could not hear. After nodding a little bit, the therapist left the room in a hurry without giving Maka another look. This made Maka roll her eyes once again, but it stopped immediately after she saw the look Soul was giving her.

The look that he was giving her was the definition of anger. She could see the anger burning in his eyes and it made her cringe a little bit. He has been mad at her before, but it was never this bad. This was a look that could literally kill and it scared Maka a little bit.

"What the hell, Maka?! Why would you do that to her?" He roared, rushing towards the cage. His hands gripped the bars in front of him and his hands shook a little bit with rage. "She is just trying to help! There is no reason to attack her!"

Maka just shrugged a little bit as she turned her attention to anything else in the room. She was not going to let him get through to her and break her, so she did not take his anger seriously. If she listened to what he was saying, then she would surly break and the truth would spill from her.

"Why don't you let them help you?! We know that it is you in there and we are just trying to get you back to the way that you were!"

"No one thinks I am who you say I am!" Maka shouted back, keeping her eyes away from him. "You are the only asshole that thinks that and you are wrong! You are fighting for a lost cause and you should just give up before you lose everything!"

"Why do you assume I am wrong? You could have lost your memory when you… came back to life…" He trailed off of the words when they sunk in and he started to think about what he said. The words were sounding crazy to him and he was finally starting to see that. After a little bit, though, he shook his head and continued on with his rant. "I do not know how that happened, but I will get you to believe me.

"Even if I have to take over the therapy sessions."

Maka finally met his gaze, seeing the determination running through his eyes. She knew that his words rang true, but she could not do anything about it. Her mouth had to stay shut so he could figure it out himself. It was truly a test of sacrifice because it was hard on her now.

"You will not get through to me either. I want you as far away from me as possible, so what makes you think I am going to talk about anything personal to you?"

"Because that is who you used to be!"

* * *

"_Maka?" Soul muttered as he knocked softly on her bedroom door. "You have been in there the entire time since you got home. What happened?"_

_Soul was beginning to worry about his partner since she came home crying. She was out on her date with Tyler, the guy that she had a crush on for a while before they started dating. He expected them to be out most of the night, but when she came running into the house at 7 with tears in her eyes, then he knew something was wrong._

"_Go away, Soul." She muttered after a little bit, her voice sounding closer than normal. "I do not want to talk."_

"_Maka, you came home crying from a date. That is not a good sign." He said to her, leaning against the door with no plans on moving from the spot. "I just want to know what happened so I know who to beat up tomorrow."_

_She did not answer right away, but the soft sniffling that Soul heard from the other side of the door told him that he said something wrong. Giving a small sign, Soul tried to open the door once again._

"_Please, Maka?"_

_He knew that he was fighting a losing battle, but he had to try. This was his partner, the girl that would always stick it through with him. The least he could do was try to make her feel better, no matter what was bothering her. When there was no answer after a little bit, Soul pushed himself off of the door and went to make his way to his own room._

_The lock to her door flicked, signaling that it was opened._

_Taking the opportunity before it was too late, Soul pushed his way into her dark room. There was no light on and the blinds were pulled shut, but at first, there was no sign of Maka anywhere._

_That was until he heard a small whimper from beside him._

_He looked down to his side and found his partner, balled up right next to the door. Her knees were brought up to her chest and she kept them up with her arms. Red rims lined her eyes and it was clear that she was trying to hold back more tears. In simple terms, she was an upset mess at this point._

"_Maka." Soul sighed as he took a seat next to her, closing the door in the process. He moved his arm to go over her shoulders and brought her closer to his side. She took the motion gratefully, falling against him as she began to let herself cry once again. "What happened when you went out with Tyler tonight?"_

_Maka began to shake a little more just at the mention of his name. It hit a nerve, which means that something went really wrong while out on the date. Soul, without even knowing what happened, wanted to beat him up just at how he is making Maka feel at this moment. No man should make a woman feel this way without getting a proper punishment._

"_I thought that it was supposed to be a wonderful date. He told me that we were going to go out for an anniversary dinner and then go out for a walk in the park. I was so excited for this night and it turned out to be nothing but lies." She muttered, her eyes never leaving the spot she was staring out at the wall in front of her. "It supposed to be our 6 month anniversary. But he is just a lying basta-"_

"_Maka." Soul said firmly, cutting her off from saying something that she might regret later. "What did Tyler do? Did you even go out for dinner?"_

_Her head shook automatically. "That was just another part of his lies. He took me all the way out to the restaurant and then decided that I was not good enough to hang out with all night." Her voice grew with anger. "His own girlfriend was not good enough for him! He had to go off and find someone that was better and just leave all of our 6 months together behind!"_

"_So, he broke up with you?"_

_Maka slammed her hand down on the ground at that question. "I wish it was that simple. He already had someone waiting for him and he just had to pull the plug with me! On our anniversary at that!" Her anger already took over her depression and she was trying to get over it by being angry. "He did not even have the decency to walk me home."_

_Soul tightened his hold on her, bringing her as close as possible. "Maka, calm down some." This was hard for him to say as his own anger began to come through. "He is just a stupid boy that does not deserve you in the end. If he wants to date all the girls in Death City, then let him. Do not let him know that it bothers you because this is why he does this; all he wants is a reaction from you and all of the other girls he does this to."_

"_I want to rip his throat out, though!"_

"_You can feel that way, but when you see him, you can not show that." Soul said soothingly. "Guys like do this all the time and they just need to learn their lesson by seeing that they do not effect girls. Just be strong and I will help you get through it each day we see him at school."_

_Maka did not answer right away as she let the words sunk in. After a little bit, her body began to shake with small sobs that ran through her body. Her hand went to her cheeks as she tried to clear the tears that made their way down. "Why would he do this to me? Why did he make me feel so wonderful just to leave me in the street?" She muttered through her tears._

"_I do not know why boys do this, Maka." Soul said, rubbing small circles on her back. He laid his head on top of hers as she tried to calm herself. "I just do not know, but I wish that I could beat each of them up after what he did."_

_Soul stayed with his meister the entire night, letting her cry all the tears that were needed. There was no way that he was going to leave her now._

_They needed each other more than each of them knows._

* * *

Maka rolled her eyes, leaving the flashback that she was pulled into when he said that she would always tell him what was on her mind. It was hard for her to hold back the tears, but she had to try her best.

"Well, whoever your meister was, she sounds like a pussy."

"You are impossible to deal with at times." Soul muttered, the anger dripping from his words as he pushed himself off of the cage bars. He went back into his normal position with his hands in his jacket pockets. His body moved a little bit, almost swaying a bit, like he was trying to decide on something. "But I want to try something."

Before Maka could respond to him, he produced a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the cage. He yanked the bars from in front of her and held out one of his hands towards her, but he did not take a step towards her.

"What are you doing?"

"I am going to get you to remember."

Maka hesitated a little bit, but tried to keep that from her face. "You know I will kill you at the chance I get. If you take me out of this cage, then I will not hesitate to burn you to death."

"If you would listen to what we said to you earlier, then you would know that you cannot use your magic. The bracelet that you are wearing is cutting off your magic supply and it will not allow anything to flow through you." Soul said, matter-of-factly. "Maybe you should start paying attention before just throwing out threats to me. Plus, I am not stupid enough to take you out if I was in danger."

Cursing in her mind for what she was about to put herself into, Maka slipped her hand within his and pulled herself from the ground. She wobbled a little bit, since it has been a little while since she stood up. She retracted her hand right after she steadied herself, not wanting to cause any more trouble.

"What are we going to do then, scythe boy?" Her attitude was back in her voice. "You think a little romantic walk in the park will suddenly make me reme-"

Soul cut off her voice by slamming his thumb into the button, sending shock waves through her weak body. Amazingly, through all the pain, she managed to keep her screams inside. Her lips were pressed together and a stray tear made its way down her cheek.

"No more attitude. I know that you are putting on that fake attitude and it is not helping anyone." Soul muttered before he stalked off from the cage, leaving a speechless Maka behind. "Just come along and keep your mouth shut until we get back here."

Flinching a little bit from his words, Maka hurried behind him and kept a distance. She knew that, if she let herself get closer to him, then it would ruin the progress she was making.

Soul was piecing the pieces together at a slow pace. He allowed himself to believe that Maka was in here in front of him, but he was missing the two most important pieces to the puzzle. The feels that he admitted for Maka had to be shown and he needed to mean it in the end, but at the same time, he had to realize what she did to get back here.

There was a lot of weight on his shoulders, but Maka was counting on him. He might not know it now and there might not be much time for to get it all, but it was needed.

Maka did not want to know what it was going to be like if she was sent back with the Elders.

"-maybe if I take you around the town, the memories will trigger something inside of you." Soul's voice cut through her thoughts, sending her back into the present. They were making their way down the main street of Death City and Soul was rambling on without needed acknowledgement. "It was something I was thinking of for a little bit, but Lord Death would not allow me to take you out on the town. So, I had to wait for the perfect moment to steal you."

That statement made Maka almost stop dead in her tracks. Going behind Lord Death's back? That was something that Soul would not normally say or even think about. Was this whole experience changing him? Was he beginning to lose himself to the process of trying to bring back his meister?

Was this the best thing to do?

"I know that he will feel better about me leaving with you after he sees that it will work out." Soul continued as he fell into step with Maka, instead of leading the entire way. "This town is filled with memories between us and our friends. I know that it will make things come back to you instead of pounding them into your head with us just telling you. The old you would not be able to resis-"

His words trailed off as his eyes fell onto the first destination. As he marveled at the sight, Maka could not get herself to look at it. Of course, this had to be the first place that he brought her to; he could not think of a better place than this one.

The fountain in the center of the city.

It may not seem like an important place to someone else, but it was a very special one to Maka and Soul. They shared a precious memory here and it was one of their earlier ones. It occurred only a few weeks after they became partners.

* * *

_The engine of his motorcycle was cut off as he dismounted the vehicle. Maka took a hesitant step backwards, not really sure how to handle the person she was trusting with her life with on a motorcycle._

"_What is with the walking home alone?" Soul said, leaning back against the bike. He did not meet her gaze as he questioned his new partner. "I thought you said that I could give you a ride home after you were done with your extra class. I was waiting for you, but Professor Stein said that you already left."_

_Maka did not answer; her concentration was focused onto her trembling hands that she played with nervously in front of her. She knew that reason she did not wait for him, but she could not get herself to tell him. Was it really that important for her to tell Soul or was it just a small detail about herself that she could easily keep to herself?_

"_I-I just wanted to have some time to myself." Her voice barely came out louder than a whisper. "There was no need to wait, you could have went home a while ago. I did not need you to take me home."_

"_That is a bunch of bullshit." Soul remarked, stepping closer to her. Maka flinched a little bit at his cursing, but brushed it off. "I know that you did not want to just walk home by yourself because you would have said something this morning when I offered the ride. You thought of something that stopped you during the day and forgot to enlighten me with that thought. Now, you must spill."_

"_It is really not that important, trust me." Maka said as she walked around him, not looking at him. "It is over now and I will just meet you at h-"_

_Soul caught her by the arm when she tried to get past him. "Why are you avoiding the question?" He said, his voice a little louder than before. His anger was beginning to show and this was what Maka wanted to avoid. "This would go a lot easier if you would just answer my question and we just went home! Stop being difficult!"_

"_Why do you care so much about what is going on with me?" She shot back, yanking her arm from his grasp. "I know that you are my partner now, but that does not mean that I am just going to be an open book to you! There are just some things that you do not need to know about me."_

"_That is the entire point, Maka! I am your new partner, so why don't you trust me with what is bothering you?" Soul muttered to her, dropping the volume of his voice to try to calm the situation. "You should want to tell me everything because that is what a meister and weapon partnership is about. We should be able to trust each oth-"_

"_I cannot trust men!"_

_Soul did not see her response coming, so he did not know what to say. His mouth kept opening and closing his mouth, trying to come up with anything to say to her. How was someone supposed to respond to that, since they did not even see it coming?_

"_I just can't." Maka muttered, shaking her head a little bit. "Ever since…. Ever since my papa hurt my mom the way that he did, I cannot get myself to grow close to men. I know it might sound stupid, since I chose a man as my partner, but I will not be able to put my trust fully into you."_

_He still did not know how to respond and Maka took that as a sign to leave. She wiped the stray tear from her cheek and moved around Soul to head back home. _

"_I am not him, you know."_

_Maka stopped behind him, her head snapping up. She turned to look over her shoulder, but Soul was not looking back at her. He was still facing forward, but his pose was showing that he was confident in his words._

"_Your old man might have hurt you and your mom, but that does not mean that every man in the world is the same. He is just one of the stupid ones that think what they have is not good enough to keep forever. There are new things, and people, in the world that keep him chasing to find something good. He does not realize that a family is the best thing in the world and that you should hold onto it for your entire life._

"_You need people to trust, Maka." Soul said as he turned around to face his partner. Her eyes were opened wide with amazement and awe as she took in every word he said. "I am your partner and I will not hurt you like the way your old man did. I will make sure to stay your side through every mission that we are sent on. I can promise you that."_

_Her eyes moved away from his as she turned back around to face the way she was heading. The tears were forming on the rims of her eyes and she did not want him to see that._

_To be honest, that was one of the nicest things that someone had said to her in a while. He was saying the things that she wanted a long time ago, but no one would ever do it. They would ignore the events that happened within her family, feeling that it was better left unsaid._

_Honestly, she just wanted comfort from it._

"_Thank you, Soul." She muttered after she was sure that her voice was not filled with emotion. "I think you just might be right."_

_Maybe, deciding to have a male partner might have been the best decision that she made in a while._

* * *

Soul grabbed onto Maka's hand, pulling her from the daydream that she was having. Her eyes shot over to him, forgetting that this was the real life once again. She forgot that she was a witch and that Soul was supposed to be her enemy. All of that was washed away from her mind and she just wanted everything to go back to normal.

A small smile developed on her lips when she saw him, but it was quickly covered up when she realized what was going on.

"I saw that, Maka." Soul said, smiling himself. "I know what you are thinking about, but this is not the only place we are visiting. There is one very special spot that I want to take you too before we head back to the academy."

"This is stupid, asshole." Maka muttered, pulling her arm from his grasp. Her arms folded in front of her chest and she kept all emotion from her face. There was no way that these small little memories were going to ruin everything for her. "These places in this shitty town do not mean anything to me and you are just wasting your time. I hope that Lord Death is attacked while we are out here and you are not there to protect him."

There was not response from Soul. Instead, he just kept walking with a small smile on his face. No motion came from him, so Maka just took this as a sign to follow him to the next spot that he wanted to visit.

Many places in Death City could bring back memories that she did not want to revisit at a time like this. So many places meant a lot to her and she did not want to show that to Soul, even though he knew how much it meant to her. If he was trying to get her to break, there were only a few places that she felt would be able to do that.

Of course, he had to pick one of those places.

"Here," Soul said, waving his hand out to the side of him to show her the destination. "is the next place on our trip. This one, in my opinion, has to be one of my favorite ones in Death City. I know that you will feel the same way once you think about it for a little bit."

His words drowned out in her ears as she took a few steps towards the place. Her eyes scanned the area as the memories flooded back into her mind. This was _the _place, the one place that could make or break everything. The one place that meant a lot to her and Soul.

The one place that showed how much he cared about her before he admitted it.

Death City Park.

* * *

"_Oh, look at poor Maka." One of the boys said as he closed in on her. "In the park without the protection of your weapon. Was that really such a smart idea, Maka? Are you sure you can handle being by yourself?"_

"_Oh, do not be so hard on her, Liam." Another one said as he took his place next to Liam's side. His sinister smile grew a little bit as he looked at her. "Not everyone is strong enough to be by themselves. She just needs to have someone hold her hand at all times so that she does not get hurt."_

"_Yeah, she is just one of those weak meisters. You know, the ones that get killed easily." The third and final voice came into play, taking a place behind the other two. "They get themselves into stupid situations and then just die off. It's tragic, but no one cares in the end."_

_By this point, Maka was backed into a tree with no place to go. The three boys were surrounding her and did not give her the room to make an escape. They cornered her while she was on her way home from school, taking an extra lesson from the professor. She knew that it was a bad night to walk home by herself._

_Why didn't she just call Soul like he suggested?_

"_Come on, Maka. Why don't you stand up for yourself?" Liam said, taking the lead role in this gang up. He was the one that called to her when they saw her passing. She should have just ignored them the moment she saw them. "Or are you just being a pussy and waiting for your little weapon to show up?"_

_Maka did not look up at them, not wanting to see the look on their faces. Why couldn't they go away and leave her be? What did she ever do to deserve this?_

_She wondered that, until she heard the final voice in the group come into play._

"_Enough, boys. She is mine now."_

_Her eyes snapped when she heard that voice. She would know that voice at any point, but it was not one that she wanted to hear now._

_Tyler pushed his way through the boys, having that same old smile on his face. His hands slipped out of his pocket and reached towards Maka, grasping her hands within his. He looked up at her with the eyes that caught her attention the first day she saw him._

"_Isn't that right, Maka?" He muttered to her, bringing himself closer than normal. "You are my girl, right? We had a lot of fun the last time that we were together, didn't we?"_

_Appalled, Maka ripped her hands from his. "Are you serious?" She said. "You broke up with me on our 6__th__ month anniversary, left me to walk home all by myself, and you want to get back together?! I should kill you for just saying that to me."_

_The moment she said that, she regretted it._

_The rage grew in Tyler's eyes as soon as those words sunk in. He reached out and grabbed her arm again, only this time with more force. Her body was pulled towards his and the fear was running through her veins at this point. _

"_Why would you say something like that? I have been nothing but nice to you and this is how you repay me?" He muttered through his teeth. "I was the one who gave you a chance when no other boy did. I did you a favor by dating you and you don't want to get back together? That hurts me deeply, Maka._

"_Very deeply."_

"_Let go of me, Tyler! You are hurting me!" Maka yelled, pulling at her arm. He was stronger than her, though, so she was fighting a losing battle. "Just let go of me and move on with your life! Why don't you go to the many girls that you have lined up at this school, you bastard?!"_

"_Why you little bitch?!" Tyler screamed, pushing her away from him with great force. Her back slammed into the tree that was behind her and she fell to the ground immediately afterwards. He pushed her over so that she was on her back with his foot. "How dare you call me a bastard?!" _

_Maka coughed a little bit as she met his eyes. "I am only telling the truth." She whispered, not able to get her voice to get any louder. "All you are is a lying, cheating bast-"_

_Tyler's foot slammed into her side, cutting off her words. She let out a painful gasp as she clutched her side, feeling the pain pulsing through her. Her eyes closed tightly, keeping the tears inside. She was not about to show the pain or her weakness._

_That was what he wanted, after all._

"_You do not speak to me like that. No one speaks to me like that!" Tyler said, motioning to his boys to surround the meister lying on the ground. They encircled her, keeping their smiles plastered on their faces. "I will teach you not to speak to me like that and I will make you mine again!"_

_Another blow came into her side, earning a more painful gasp from her._

"_You are just a weak meister that needs someone beside her!"_

_Another kick came, flipping her onto her side._

"_You should be lucky that I am giving you the time of day! I am the best thing that is going to happen to you in your sad, pathetic life!"_

_Liam gave the kick this time, making Maka flip back onto her back._

"_No boy is ever going to care for yo-"_

_Tyler's voice was cut off and was replaced with a small painful scream. Maka hesitated as she opened her eyes to see what was going on. She could have cried out in joy if she was not in so much pain._

"_Who the hell invited you to this party, Soul Eater?!" Tyler yelled, his hand covering his left arm. Blood was seeping through his fingers and dripping the ground. "This does not concern you, so why don't you go back to trying to be the cool guy in town?"_

_Soul did not answer him, but the look in his eyes said that he was not amused. Flicking out his arm, his red and black scythe blade appeared once again. He stuck the point out towards Tyler, keeping it only centimeters from his neck._

"_What? Are you going to kill me now?" Tyler said, trying to hide the fear in his voice but it was ringing clear. "That would be a stupid decision on your end. The school would kick you out in a heartbeat. And that would leave this pathetic excuse of a meister to be by herself."_

_Not letting him say another word, Soul sliced into the air. He managed to get a deep gash on both of Tyler's arms without even blinking. Tyler backed away the moment he got cut and tried to calm the bleeding as soon as it started._

"_You bas-"_

"_Now, you will leave Maka alone. I do not want to see you come within 10 feet of her at any point of the day. If I see you even trying to talk to her or coming near her, I will personally shove this blade down your throat. Then I will do it to all of your little friends here." Soul muttered darkly, waving the blade out to the other boys that were backing up as well. "Do I make myself clear?"_

_All the boys nodded slowly before they turned on their heels and ran from the park._

_The blade disappeared from Soul's arm before he turned back to his meister. He bent down onto his knees and his hands automatically went to Maka's sides. He kept his touch soft, not wanting to cause her anymore pain. "Are you okay? Did they cause any serious damage?"_

_Maka shook her head a little bit as she tried to sit up. Soul's arm went to her back, keeping her from falling back. Her sides screamed at her when she sat up, but as far as she could tell, all she was going to have was some serious bruises._

"_I am all right. I think I am just going to have some bruising."_

_Soul kept his eyes on her as he carefully helped her stand on her feet. His arm never left from around her back, making sure that she was not going to sway. "I should kill those bastards for even thinking about laying a hand on you!"_

"_It's fine, Soul. They did not do any real damage to me."_

"_That is not the point, Maka!" Soul shot at her, the emotion in his eyes changing from worry to anger once again. "No guy should beat up on a girl, no matter what they were arguing about! That is just sick and wrong and I should have been here to protect you! Damn, I knew I should have drove you home."_

"_This is not your fault, Soul." Maka said, wanting to calm him down as much as she could. "They are right, I am a weak meister. I cannot fight without my weapon and I am just hopeless alone. If I could have, I would have been able to fight them off."_

"_This is all my fault! Do you realize how much damage they could have caused if I did not show up at the time I did?" He said, shaking his head in disgust. "They would have kept going until they sent you to the hospital. I do not know how I would be able to deal with that if it happened."_

_Maka looked up at her weapon when he said that, seeing the hurt run through his eyes. He was truly worried about her and he was beating himself for not being there. He was turning this back on him, blaming himself for something that was not his fault to begin with._

"_That did not happen!" Maka pushed, keeping her voice at a low volume. "You cannot beat yourself up about something that happened to me. I was the one who was walking home alone. I should have called you when I left the school, but I did not. This was my fault, so do not blam-"_

_She was cut off with a painful gasp when the pain pulsed through her body again._

_Without hesitation, Soul pulled his meister onto his back. He adjusted her weight, trying to keep her in a position that would not hurt her. "Let's not think about that right now. I want to get you checked out, just to be safe."_

"_Soul, that is not ne-"_

"_I need to know that you all right, Maka." Soul muttered, making his way back towards the school. "I need to know."_

* * *

Tears were now streaming down her face as she turned her back to the park. She covered her face with her hands, trying to keep the tears a secret from Soul. He could not know that this was hard for her.

She was supposed to be a witch, someone that did not feel. This could not affect her in the way that it was, but it was hard.

This entire process was becoming hard on her and she found herself breaking even more than before.

"Maka." Soul muttered as he pulled her into his arms. He wound his arms around her waist and laid his head on top of hers. His hand was rubbing small circles on her back as he tried to get her to calm down some. However, this was only making her cry even more. "Maka, just let it out."

She pressed her lips together, not wanting to let anything that she was going to regret slip out. This was her breaking point. Since she came back to Death City, she was forced to keep her true self inside of her. She had to keep all of her emotions and memories inside of her and hurt her everyday. This was the last straw, though.

"Maka."

The sound of her name rolling off his tongue sent her over the edge.

Her arms made their way around his torso and she buried her head into his shoulder. The tears took over and she broke down into sobs. Her mouth opened, almost letting everything fall from her lips.

But a voice stopped her from doing what she was going to regret.

_Do not do it, Maka!_

* * *

Woot! Such a long chapter.

I actually like this chapter a lot, even if it took me a week to get it all down. There are a lot of flashbacks, I realize that, but I like that there are. This was the chapter that was tried to get Maka to break, which it almost did! I had it in my mind to make this the chapter that she revealed that she knew everything, but it would be too soon. It would make it only two chapters that they have spent together and I feel that there needs to be more. Since she did not say anything to him, that did not break the rules of the trial.

Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and leave me a very nice review.

I will see you in the next chapter. Love you all forever :)

xoxo Alysha.


	11. We Are One

**Title: **Prove It.

**Genre: **Action, Adventure, Tragedy, and Romance.

**Rating: **M for violence.

**Summary: **All she wanted to do was to save him from the pain that he was going through. She wanted him to live the life that he was meant to, even if it meant giving something up in return. Besides, love always costs something in the end.

* * *

** We Become One.  
****Are We Finally Partners?**

* * *

It was always known that mother knew best. And at this point, Maka could not have been happier to hear her voice ring through the air.

_Think about what you are doing, honey. This is your last opportunity to get back to your normal life. Do not let the little things bring you down._

Maka felt her body freeze, tensing due to the arms around her. What was she letting herself get into? Could she be any more of an idiot at this point? She wanted to pull away from him. She wanted nothing more than for him to be away from her.

At this rate, she was going to let go of everything she worked for.

_Just let go of Soul and take a few steps backwards. You will thank me in the end when everything works out._

Her arms would not fall from around him. It all came to her at once. The way that it felt to be back in his arms, feeling security while he was around her, it was a feeling that no one wanted to let go of. Why would anyone want to let go of this feeling? A smart person would just want to live like this and that was all Maka wanted to do.

She did not want to remove her arms and she did not want to back away from Soul. So what if she did not get to live down here with him? This moment was enough. She could feel his love around her and it was bliss. Nothing was better than this and she could live it up.

All she had to do was tell the truth…

_Honey, think about what you are doing! This is not you... Something is wrong…_

The voice started to fade into the back of her mind. There was no need to listen to her anymore. What did she know? She never experienced love like this so she would not know how to act when this moment came. She would probably run away from it, never looking back.

Why would she take advice from someone like that?

"Maka." Soul's voice pulled her back as he released her waist. His hands moved to her shoulders as he held her at arms length. Eyes that were filled with amusement and awe stared down at her, waiting for some sort of response. "What are you thinking?"

Her mouth opened; ready to spill everything, when something caught her eye. Behind Soul's shoulder, a blurry figure started to appear. Her sinister smile was the only thing visible from under her hood, but Maka knew exactly who she was. She should have jumped into action at that moment, but there was something about the look she was getting kept her from doing so.

"Now, now. Why don't you tell him what you are thinking then? It cannot hurt too much to tell him the truth. I mean, it is not nice to lie to the ones you care about."

Maka's head started to nod automatically. It was true; lying was not part of a partnership. He had a right to know what was going on since he was fighting so hard to get the answers he wants. She just tell him, let him know that he was right the entire time so that he could truly show his feelings for her once again.

"That's right." Medusa muttered, taking a few steps towards the two. "Just let it all out, you will feel so much better after it is over. Everything will just happen the way that it was planned and everyone will be happy. It will only take a few simple words."

"It will all work out." The words fell from Maka's mouth without her thinking about them. They felt like they were put there, like someone else much greater than her was putting them where they wanted them. It did not matter what she wanted anymore, but she could not stop it. "I just need to say a few things."

Soul's eyebrow rose in question. Was she talking to him or was she just saying something out of the blue? "What are you talking about?" He said, trying to capture her gaze once more. However, she kept moving her eyes around to look behind his back, almost as if she was avoiding him on purpose. There was something that was keeping her attention that was more important to her at this point in time. "What are you looking out?"

When Soul looked behind his shoulder to see what she was looking out, the emptiness of the park met his eyes. There was no person or movement in sight. They were alone in the park, just like they were ten minutes ago. Was she seeing something that he could not?

"You might want to tell him soon, Maka Albarn." Medusa's voice came back into play for Maka. She started to move closer to the pair, making Maka want to move back. If it were not for Soul's hands keeping her in place, then she would try to put as much distance between her and Medusa as possible. "He is starting to get suspicious since he is not able to see me right not. Do know want the young weapon to worry."

"Starting to get suspicious…" Maka muttered, finally looking back at Soul's wondering eyes. The look he was giving was clearly screaming that he was confused and a little worried at the same time. He wanted to know what was going on with her, since he was not able to find out for himself. When she got a good look at the look he was giving her, she snapped out of the daze that was taking over.

Medusa saw this happening and began to falter a little. She took a few more quick steps towards them, trying to find the right words to say to patch things up. What was going to get her out of this situation now? "No, no. I need you to continue to listen to me."

"No…"

"But I know what is right! You must list-"

"No!"

Maka shouted out her command as she pushed herself from Soul's protective arms. With the force of her push, she managed to land herself onto her bottom. As soon as she reached the ground, her eyes snapped to look past Soul, trying to find the source of the problems. But she was gone. Medusa was gone from sight and it left Maka wondering a lot of things.

Was she really there?

Or was she just part of Maka's guilt conscience?

"What the hell is your problem? Are you trying to make me go mental because it is working so far!" Soul's voice cut through her concentration, bringing her back to what was really happening around her. She moved her eyes to lock onto his. All she was wanted to do was forget about what just happened. "Well, are you going to explain?"

When she did not answer, Soul took the first move. Holding out his hand to help her get back onto her feet, he moved to close the space between them. He did not make it very far until somone's shrilling voice cut him off.

"No, do not take another step, Soul Eater! You promised that you would not do this!"

After the initial fight with Maka, Soul had completely forgotten this voice. She disappeared soon after, leaving him to deal with the return of his meister. He never knew where she was, but she reassured him that she was just covering business so that she could return to her normal life and leave him alone forever.

And he wanted nothing more than that.

"What do you want now, Elena?"

The red haired meister moved her way to stand right in between Maka and Soul, cutting them off from each other. Her small hands slammed down on his chest, trying to get her frustration across. He was going against all that she told him earlier and it was her turn to get this plan back on its tracks. Even though it might be too late at this point.

"What did I tell you before we left for our mission?" She muttered, puffing out her cheeks in frustration. Her hands moved from his chest to sit on her hips comfortably. "Do you remember anything that I said to you or did you forget it as soon as we found this little witch behind me?"

"I did not forget what you said to me, but you are the one that did not explain yourself thoroughly! When were you even going to tell me that _she_ was the one that we were set off to fight? When she was dead?"

Elena shook her head as soon as he started talking, not even giving him a chance to get his full thought across before she disagreed. "That was not important or will it ever be important! This is the one that is keeping me from my full powers and I deserve to have them! So, you will complete the mission that I gave you or I will kill you my-"

"You knew all along that Maka was the one that we were going to fight, didn't you?"

That statement caught the Little Demon off guard instantly. Since when did the weapon become smart enough to piece the pieces together? She ran her fingers through her hari, trying to come up with anything to say to get them off the subject that was going to lead them down a terrible road.

"I did not! How was I supposed to know which person was coming back to steal my powers? There are some many people that could be on that list and she just happened to be the one! But that does not even matter anymore because she is not even your meister anymore! The girl that you fell in love with is gone and was replace by this witch for the rest of her life. Can you love a witch, the mortal enemy of the ac-"

Her sentence was never finished as Soul's fist connected with her right cheek. The impact of the punch set her falling to the ground instantly and it threatened to leave a deadly bruise.

Soul's breathing was deep and fast as he looked down at the Little Demon on the ground. He tried to keep his anger inside, but she knew what buttons to push. She knew exactly what was going on the entire time during their mission and it did not matter. She was ready to kill Maka once again so that she could get the power that was taken.

There was no way that Soul was going to let that happen again.

"Soul?" Maka muttered, talking for the first time during the entire scene between the two of them. She was burning with questions about what was going on, but she could not bring herself to bring them up. Was it something that she was not supposed to know? Or did she not even want to know about it at all? "Wha-"

"Do you think a little push is going to keep me down?"

Both Maka and Soul looked down onto the ground, seeing the Little Demon pushing herself off of the ground with ease. She jumped onto her feet in one swift movement and had a fist ready to punch Soul right back. But if the Little Demon was known for something, it was keeping something up his sleeve at all moments.

With a snap of his fingers, the Little Demon's body transformed back into his original form, causing everyone to step away from him immediately. His slender fingers folded in front of him as he bared his teeth in a toothy grin. The show was about to begin and he was going to get his way.

"Now that I have your attention, lets start with the plan that I had originally come up with." He muttered, turning his attention to Soul. With a single glance, the weapon flinched a little bit as he thought of the possible outcomes that could come with this. "I am going to finish what I started and one of you is going to end up dead."

"And I would feel really scared if I were the girl."

A new voice came into play, one that made Maka cringe back a little. Medusa's body formed next to the Little Demon with her arms folded across her chest. The look in her eye told them that there was death around the corner and it was not looking good for anyone on the other side of them.

"However, all things must come to an end and little miss must come back to where she came from."

Maka took a few more hesitant steps backwards, waiting for the first hit to come towards her. This was all directed towards her now and it was just because she wanted her life back. She just wanted to hang out with friends again, be near those who cared for her, and take on the world with Soul by her side. If she knew that this was all going to come down to this, would it really be worth it in the end?

"Let's do this, Maka."

She snapped her attention to the weapon that stood beside her with his hand stretched out towards her. His body was standing tall as he stared at the enemies that lay in front of him. He was not showing fear, even though she knew that it had to be coursing through his body. This was not the time to show it and he was going to keep it that way. It was the time to fight a battle worth fighting and he saw that.

So she needed to follow his act.

Her shaking hand slipped into hers as the body beside hers began to glow once again. The grip of the hand became tight and fierce as she got into battle mode. This was something that she had not felt in a while and it was a good feeling to have back. The feeling that nothing could go wrong. That there was always a bright side to things and that it was always going to happen.

The feeling that you were invincible.

"Yes, lets get this done with."

* * *

Yes, a short and really bad chapter, but if I did not get this down now then it would take probably another month for there to be an update.

This is just a little filler chapter before the story starts to come to a close. It is sad to say, but I do not see many chapters left in this story. Maybe another 4 or 5? Maybe? It is going to wrap up in the end and things will all make sense eventually.

**On another note, I posted another story! This is my first Vampire Academy fanfiction and I hope that some of you are fans of that amazing book series. If you happen to know about those books, then you should check out my little story that I am very proud of! It is a Dimitri and Rose one and I have very high hopes about it! It is called Safe and Sound so please read and review if you know about the book series. If you do not know about them, then I recommend reading them, they are fantastic!**

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know that it seems rushed with a lot of little things thrown at you, but I planned it that way. I always have at least one rushed chapter in a story and this is it. I still hope you will read it and review it for me. It helps me so much in writing.

See you in the next update.

xoxo Alysha.


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